


Heart on the Line

by Jules1398



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, F/F, Infidelity, Instant Star au, Music, Singing, Songwriting, references to canada
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 03:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13696239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jules1398/pseuds/Jules1398
Summary: Eva's life changes forever when she wins Instant Star talent competition and gets a deal with G-Major Records. She's a star now, with fans, magazine covers, and album. And then there's her producer, Iben.ORan au based on the first 8 episodes of Instant Star.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bri_ness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bri_ness/gifts).



> HAPPY (BELATED) VALENTINES DAY BRI FROM YOUR SECRET ADMIRER. I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN I SAW THAT I GOT YOU BC YOU'RE SUCH AN AMAZING WRITER AND WOW. I RLLY HOPE YOU LIKE THIS!!!!! ILYSM!  
> (disclaimer: I obviously do not own skam or instant star)  
> [find me on tumblr](http://crackandcanonships.tumblr.com/)  
> (yes this is tagged chriseva but if that's why you're here, then you're in the wrong place)

Eva was sitting in the bathroom stall and she felt like she was going to puke her guts out. Today was the day. In just a few minutes, she was going to have to get up on the stage and sing her heart out. If she sucked, she would embarrass herself in front of anyone and everyone. If she, by some miracle, did outstanding, she could be walking out of the building with a record deal.

She heard a knocking on the stall door. “Eva, you’re on in two minutes,” Jonas warned her. This was the girls bathroom. How the hell had he even gotten in there?

Taking a deep breath, Eva opened the stall door and went to the sink to splash her face with cold water. She needed to relax. If she was too stressed, she wouldn’t be able to sing as well.

“If I don’t win, I’m going to look like a total loser at school tomorrow,” she said, looking at her best friends, Noora and Jonas, in the mirror.

“Most people already think we’re losers. How bad can it be?” Jonas pointed out. Noora shrugged in agreement.

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks Jonas. That was super helpful.”

“Look Eva,” he started. “If you want to go home, then we can leave.”

Noora nodded in agreement. “You shouldn’t do anything that you don’t want to do.”

Eva took a deep breath. She  _ had _ to do this. She had worked her ass off to get this far and now she was going to have to follow through with it.

“I have to do this,” she announced. Noora and Jonas smiled at her. They were proud. “Wish me luck,” Eva added, as she begun to make her way toward the stage.

She could hear the announcer as she walked out there. She was the final performer of the night, which just added to the pressure even though there was only one other finalist.

This is what she was made for. She had written her first song when she was only six years old. When she was ten, she received the guitar that she practiced for hours on end every single day. Everything she was, everything that she had worked so hard for had lead to her being on that stage that night. Sometimes, if you listened very hard, you could almost hear it.

That moment that your entire life changed forever.

Eva breathed in and brought her fingers down to strum that first note on her guitar, and everything went from there. Everything in her was focused on the song. She forgot about the audience. She forgot about the cameras.

For just a few minutes, the only things in her mind were her voice and her guitar.

When the song ended, she grinned. She could hear people cheering, but she didn’t look into the crowd as she walked offstage. Win or lose, she had done the best that she could possibly do.

A few moments later, they ushered her and the other finalist, Sara, back onto the stage so that they could announce the winner. 

“Our first ever Instant Star is-” the announcer began. 

She could feel the sweat beading on her neck and she felt like she was going to hurl. Could the announcer talk any  _ slower _ ?

“Eva Kviig Mohn!”

Her jaw dropped. She had made it. She won and now she was going to have a deal with G-Major Records.

It was finally time for Eva to live her dream.

* * *

She sat on the couch that was in the front of the G-Major Records building with Jonas next to her, anxiously waiting to get to work on her songs.

“I always knew that this would happen,” he admitted. “You getting discovered.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Sure you did. You’re just after all the money that I’m going to make.”

Jonas shrugged. “I mean, it  _ is _ a perk,” he joked.

He moved so that was closer to her and spoke in a softer voice, “Don’t let their capitalist nonsense change you, okay?”

“Trust me.” Eva set her hand on Jonas’ arm. “I’m not changing for anyone,” she assured him.

The owner of the company, Dr. Skrulle, walked into the room with her assistant, Chris, next to her. Eva wasn’t quite sure as to what she was a doctor of, whether it be something to do with music or something to do with business.

“Eva Mohn, it’s nice to have you here.” She turned toward Jonas. “And who is this?”

Eva gestured toward him. “This is Jonas. He’s my best friend.”

“Okay,” Dr. Skrulle replied and glanced at Chris to speak.

“Oh,” she said, realizing that it was her turn to talk. “You were fantastic, but there were other competitors, such as Sara, who were more ready to be pop stars.”

“I don’t want to be a pop star,” Eva informed them, shaking her head. Jonas looked proud of her. “I’m a songwriter.”

“And that’s exactly why you won,” Dr. Skrulle agreed. “We both know that your songs can make money, but I also believe that they can make people happy. Your music can change lives.” She paused for a moment. “That’s why we’ve paired you with a producer and songwriter that has real substance.”

“Like Childish Gambino?” Jonas guessed, seeming overly excited, even though it wasn’t his record deal.

Dr. Skrulle and Chris stared at him questioningly. Why would a American rapper be at a Norwegian label?

“Sigrid Raabe?” Eva tried, feeling hopeful.

“No,” Dr. Skrulle replied. “We were thinking more along the lines of Iben Sandberg.”

Jonas immediately started laughing. Eva’s eyebrows shot up and she spoke slowly. “Ibby S? From Girlz Attack? You have  _ got _ to be kidding me.”

When Dr. Skrulle and Chris just continued to stare at the pair of them, she knew that they must have been telling the truth.

Girlz Attack was a girl band that hadn’t been popular for at least three years, which was a year before the band broke up. All the teenage boys at the time worshipped Ibby S because they thought she was hot and all the girls worshipped her because they wanted to be her. There were rumors of Ibby S kissing a girl a few years back, but Eva wasn’t sure if it was just part of her rockstar image, which consisted of a lot of fights and drama.

Admittedly, Eva did enjoy their music on some level and, well, she definitely agreed that Ibby S was really cute, but she didn’t trust her with her music.

“Look,” Dr. Skrulle continued. “I know what you’re probably thinking, but Iben has grown and she is amazing at what she does.”

“But she’s a rock artist,” Jonas pointed out, “and her music is old.”

“And she’s really kind of lame,” Eva added. “I mean, you can’t be serious. Iben?”

“First off, I’m only here because Dr. Skrulle and I are old friends. I don’t really give a fuck about your stupid little contest,” called a voice from somewhere in the room. Eva found the source of it and it was Iben herself, who was leaning on a railing. She really needed to work on making better first impressions.

“Second of all,” her eyes met Eva’s, sending shivers down her spine. “It’s Iben. Never call me Ibby S again, or I won’t work with you.”

Eva let out a soft “sorry” and looked down at her feet.

“Show me what you got,” Iben requested and Eva was rushed into a small recording studio.

She played one of her favorite songs, the one that she had performed at the contest, but she didn’t even get halfway through the first verse before Iben stopped her and walked into the room.

“You won Instant Star with  _ that _ song?!” Iben exclaimed in a menacing tone. “Stop playing it like it’s a fucking funeral hymn. It’s boring. Pick up the tempo.”

Iben ripped the guitar from Eva’s hands without asking and started to play the chords of her song a bit faster. “Sing,” she commanded.

Eva, feeling humiliated, refused. “Sing,” Iben ordered again, a bit louder this time.

She sung the first two lines at the higher tempo, but Iben stopped her once again.

“Alright about these lyrics,” Iben started.

“What about them?”

“They suck. You keep saying “we” but I have no idea who this “we” is,” Iben explained.

Eva smiled at Jonas and wished Noora was there with them. “It’s about me and my best friends.”

“Nobody gives a shit about your friends, Eva,” Iben informed her, and she watched as Jonas’ face fell. “This is about  _ you _ . It’s too bland. Make it more personal.”

“I like it how it is,” Eva argued. She had worked so hard on her song, toiling away with her guitar for hours on end, trying to find the right notes and words. It was about her friends because they had been with her every step of the way. She didn’t  _ want _ to cut them out of her music. In fact, she didn’t want to change her song at all just because some washed up ex-rockstar asked her to.

Iben got in to Eva’s face. “It was good enough to win you a stupid contest, but it isn’t ready. Not until we rewrite the lyrics.”

Jonas came into the room, but Eva kind of wished that we wouldn’t get involved. “Uhh Eva, we have to go,” he lied. “To uhhh meet Magnus at the skatepark.”

Everyone looked at one another, since Jonas was obviously just trying to get Eva out of there. She was unsure of what to do when Dr. Skrulle spoke in a disappointed tone, “I think that’s enough for today, Eva.”

“See you later,’ she said to Iben softly, feeling embarrassed.

“See you,” Iben echoed, refusing to make eye contact.

Eva walked out of the studio feeling humiliated and upset. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this whole musician thing.

* * *

“Are you like famous now?” Vilde asked as they walked into the school. Vilde and Eva never really talked much except at parties, but suddenly she was acting like they were best friends.

“She only got some pathetic signing bonus,” Ingrid answered. “If it were me I would have made sure I was getting more cash before signing a three year contract.”

Eva rolled her eyes at her sister’s words. “Well, you didn’t win, did you, Ingrid?” she snapped.

She spotted Jonas in the hallway, so she abandoned the group of girls that she had been walking with and greeted him.

“It seems like Ingrid is pretty proud of you,” he said in a sarcastic tone, nodding his head toward the hallway the other girls had headed down.

“At least she’s talking to me at school,” Eva joked. “She used to tell everyone that I was Noora’s second cousin.”

They laughed together as Noora came up to them and Eva wrapped an arm around both of her friends as they walked down the hallway.

* * *

Eva was walking out of Nissen with Noora that afternoon when she grabbed one of the newspapers that was by the front of the school, with a picture from the final Instant Star competition.

“So you admit it,” Noora started. “Ibby S is hot!”

Eva rolled her eyes and her friend continued. “It’s not her fault that she’s stalked by the paparazzi. Journalists will do what they have to do to get the best story.”

Noora pushed the front door open and the sound of the band playing her song filled Eva’s ears. How the hell had they transcribed it and learned it so fast. The cheerleaders stood in front of them, doing tricks.

“Here she is!” the principal announced. “Nissen’s very own Instant Star.”

“Is that your song?” Noora wondered aloud, trying to hold back a laugh.

Eva looked around at the scene in front of her, absolutely mortified. “Noora, they’re playing my song on tubas.”

She turned away so she wouldn’t have to look at everything that was going on in front of her. It was a surprise, that was for sure, but definitely not a very welcome one.

It was unavoidable, though, because the principal walked up the stairs to stand next to her for a photo. “Let’s get an Instant Star smile!” he requested as a photographer from the school newspaper took their picture.

“Eva,” he said turning toward her, “Congratulations. We are really proud of you.”

As he walked away, Jonas came up from behind her. “I haven’t seen anything this lame since last year’s revue, when they tried to put on Disney on Ice without an ice rink.”

“Yeah,” Eva said with a chuckle when she caught something in the corner of her eye. Behind all the commotion, Iben was leaning on some expensive shiny purple convertible, wearing big white sunglasses that were less than inconspicuous. Iben offered her a little wave.

“Let’s ditch this and go to the skatepark,” Jonas suggested, walking out in front of her. “There’s something that we have to talk about.”

“I have to go. Sorry,” Eva replied, ignoring Jonas’ words and pushing past him so that she could get to Iben.

After she had made her way toward Iben, she asked, “What the fuck are you doing at my school?”

“Rescuing you,” Iben responded.

“Wha-”

“That was fantastic by the way,” Iben continued in a sarcastic tone. “I absolutely adore the tubas.”

Eva rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

“You have a gig at the Vinyl Palace in two days,” she informed her.

“Really?!” Eva exclaimed, eyes wide. “The Vinyl Palace?!”

“We have about 48 hours to fix your trainwreck of a song,” Iben explained, her tone ruining Eva’s good mood. “We have to get to work.”

“Where are we going to go?” Eva wondered. The studio was busy with other artists at that time of the day.

“Somewhere where you can’t ditch me in the middle of writing.” Iben motioned toward her car. “Get in, but make sure you don’t scratch anything. This car is worth more than you and your entire family combined.”

They ended up sitting near a relatively abandoned pier on the outskirts of the city. Eva sat on top of a bench and Iben leaned on her car just a few feet in front of her. It couldn’t have been a legal parking place, but Eva had a feeling that there wasn’t a single cop in Oslo that would make her move it.

Eva sung to Iben and Iben kept laughing at her lyrics, which made her want to jump into the fucking ocean.

She removed her hands from the guitar and stopped singing. “What?”

Iben wouldn’t look at her, instead she kept her gaze out onto the ocean. “You keep changing up the chords, but you’re avoiding your main issue, which is the lyrics.”

“I’m just,” Eva stopped for a moment to look for a valid excuse, since she didn’t  _ want _ to change the lyrics, “trying to get it right.”

“You want to get it right?” Iben asked. “Or do you want to get it right now?”

“That’s fucking hilarious,” Eva replied in a flat tone, rolling her eyes.

“Do you do everything in such a hurry?” Iben asked, confrontationally.

“Just my music,” she argued. “I’m on a timeline. I’m already 17. If I can’t get a masterpiece out soon, then I’ll fade out into obscurity.”

“I guess I’m shit out of luck then,” Iben snapped. “I’m 21, so I’ll never have a chance at any real fame.”

Iben pushed herself off the car and started making her way toward Eva. “Your job is to get ready to kill it at the Vinyl Palace.”

She took a seat on the bench next to Eva. “Look, the chords you want? They’re hiding in the guitar.”

Eva had no idea where the older girl was going with this, and she wondered if she did either. “They want to come out, but they can’t”

Iben reached over and placed her fingers on the frets of Eva’s guitar. “You have to coax them out. Gently.”

Their faces were mere inches away now and a part of Eva wanted to close the gap and press her lips to Iben’s, but she didn’t. After all, she was probably just starstruck.

* * *

 

She searched her closet up and down, but couldn’t find the boots that she wanted to wear anywhere. Eva came running down the stairs. “Ingrid,” she called. “Can you stop stealing my boots?”

Ingrid and both of her parents were standing in the living room, appearing to be concerned. “What is this? Did I do something?”

“Ex-girl group rockstar gets up close and personal with gal pal Eva Mohn,” Ingrid read from her phone. “I think we all know what gal pal  _ really _ means, Eva.”

She flipped her phone around to show Eva a news article that had a picture of her and Iben writing a song together by the pier from the night before. The picture focused on their faces, which were incredibly close.

Eva snatched the Ingrid’s phone from her hands to look more closely. “What? I’m on Buzzfeed?! That’s amazing!”

Her dad was laughing, but her mom seemed to be a bit more concerned.

Eva tossed the phone back to Ingrid. “Come on. You know nothing happened.”

“See, Anne Marit?” her dad. “Nothing happened.”

“I tried to tell them. After all, why would Iben Sandberg be interested in a girl like you?” Ingrid said in a snarky tone.

Eva gave her a fake smile. “Oh, thanks. You’re so hilarious, Ingrid.”

“So, she didn’t touch you?” her mom asked cautiously.

“No,” Eva replied. “Mom, gross!”

“Honey, we need to talk about this,” Anne Marit informed her.

Her dad interjected. “She just said nothing is going on!”

“Aksel!” she practically shouted. “I am  _ not _ taking any chances. I’m going to call Dr. Skrulle and get this switched.”

“This is Eva’s shot,” he yelled. “You are not going to blow it for her!”

“Blow it for her or for you!” her mom shouted back as they got into one of their typical screaming matches.

Eva walked out of the house and they were so invested in their hatred for one another that they didn’t even notice.

When Eva walked into school the following morning, everyone was gossiping about her and Iben. She supposed that the article  _ had _ appeared to look pretty suspicious, after all, Iben’s arms were wrapped around her and their faces had gotten so close.

Eva went to her locker only to see that it was covered with printed screenshots of the article. She sighed and ripped them down. Her fellow students at Nissen were real fucking mature.

“So,” Noora said, stopping in front of Eva’s locker, “there isn’t any truth to this story, is there?”

“You know that I would tell you if something like that happened,” she assured her friend.

“Too bad,” Noora continued. “You and Iben look so cute together. I mean, four years isn’t  _ that _ big of an age gap.”

Eva stared at her for a moment. “You think we look cute together?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my god!”

“Shut up,” Eva groaned, lightly slamming her head on her locker. “I  _ can’t _ like Iben. She’s an ex-rockstar from a band people barely remember.”

“The woman is like a Gabrielle sundae smothered in Alexz Johnson sauce.” Eva didn’t know what the fuck that meant.

“That sounds like something Vilde would say,” she pointed out.

Noora shrugged. “It may or may not be a direct quote of hers.”

“I know that Iben is hot,” Eva admitted. “But there’s more to it than that. She’s taught me so much already. We make amazing music together.” Eva took a breath before continuing, “And by the pier there was this moment. I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Maybe I just imagined it.”

“But what if you didn’t,” the blond girl pointed out, wiggling her eyebrows. 

Eva thought about it. Maybe she hadn’t imagined it. Perhaps there was something there between her and Iben. Eva might have a chance.

“Hey,” Jonas greeted from her other side. She turned to look at him. “Maybe now would be a good time for us to talk,” he suggested.

They made their way out of the building through a side door, walking in the direction of her house together.

“You’ve been famous for a few days and you’re already on the cheesy hellsite that we call Buzzfeed? Wow,” he remarked.

“Yeah,” Eva replied, rolling her eyes. She remembered the Vinyl Palace performance and reached into the pocket of her fluffy white jacket, pulling out a ticket. “I totally forgot that I had this for you. It’s a ticket for tonight. I’m singing at the Vinyl Palace! I haven’t even been inside it before.”

“I mean, the Vinyl Palace is a hub of overpriced capitalist nonsense, but I’m still proud of you,” he replied. “Is Ibby S coming?”

“Yeah,” Eva answered. Why wouldn’t she come? She had helped her to write her song, after all.

“Eva?” Jonas prodded suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you rewrote the lyrics for Ibby S. What happened to not feeding into their scam of a business? I bet half the lyrics she wants you to sing are cheesy lines that you could find in a Hallmark card.”

She shook her head. “Iben has grown as an artist, Jonas. The lyrics are good. The entire song is good.”

“Have you seen her car, Eva?” Jonas argued. “Rich people like her buy so much shit like that that they don’t need while the poor continue to starve.”

“I know, but she’s my producer,” Eva reasoned with a shrug. “What do you expect me to do?”

“Whatever,” Jonas said quietly. He spoke a little louder, “I actually have something for you.”

“Do you?” she asked as he reached into his pocket.

It was a necklace with a guitar pick on the bottom. “I got it at the last Kindred Fever concert that me and Magnus went to. It’s Jarle Langåker’s guitar pick.”

Eva’s mouth widened. “This is Jarle Langåker’s?!” she gasped in astonishment. “Are you serious?”

Jonas grinned and nodded his head.

“That’s awesome!” she exclaimed before reaching up to wrap her best friend in a hug. “Thank you, I love it!”

“Eva,” he started, seeming a bit nervous, which was weird. Jonas was never nervous.

“Yes?”

“We’ve been friends for a long time now,” he continued. “But, I wanted to talk about a, well, a transition, I guess. To something more.”

Jonas wanted to be in a relationship with her? Maybe that was something she had wanted once, a long time ago, but he had since proved that he wasn’t really relationship material for her, despite the fact that he had always been an amazing friend.

He took her silence as an answer, and kept talking in a panicked tone, “But you don’t, obviously.” Jonas let out a half-hearted laugh. 

Eva looked to him, feeling a bit sad. “Don’t be mad, Jonas.”

“I’m not,” he assured her. “I just can’t believe you’re letting that talentless bitch change our song!”

Great, so he was changing the subject so that he could channel his anger into something entirely different. Absolutely wonderful. 

“It’s not  _ our _ song,” Eva protested. “It’s my song. I wrote it and I sung it. Do you have a record deal, Jonas?”

“But, those lyrics. They’re about us. You, me, and Noora,” he argued.

“Right, but they don’t work anymore,” Eva replied. “They have to go.”

She could see the disappointment in Jonas’ eyes. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Just like me.”

He walked away from her quickly, ignoring her when she called his name.

Eva looked down on her feet and felt like she was going to cry. She hated to see her friend like this, but she couldn’t help how she felt about him. And, if this was about her music, he would come around eventually. She was doing the right thing and improving herself as a musician, and hopefully Jonas would come to realize that someday.

* * *

It was almost time for her to perform, but she wasn’t that excited anymore. Eva just sat on the couch and stared at a wall, trying to think of how she could fix things with her best friend and she played with the guitar pick that was hanging around her neck.

She heard a knocking on the open door and looked up to see Iben walking in. “Can I have your autograph?” the other girl joked.

Eva grabbed her sheet music off of the table. “Hey,” she said, standing up off the couch. “I rewrote the lyrics. There’s a new hook and everything so-” she set them back onto the table, “-yeah.”

“So you took my advice, huh?” Iben replied. Eva kind of wished that she wouldn’t gloat about it. Especially when she was so obviously conflicted.

“Yeah,” she said, feeling mildly annoyed.

Iben picked up the sheet music from the table and started flipping through it. “This-” Iben nodded. “-this is really good, Eva.”

“Good,” she muttered, still feeling guilty about the conversation that she had with Jonas earlier.

“You know, you should be happy about this,” Iben replied, moving so that she was right next to Eva.

“I am,” she lied.

“What’s going on?” Iben asked. She was probably just pretending to care so that the performance would go well. 

“It’s Jonas,” Eva admitted. “He isn’t coming tonight. Apparently this is all capitalist nonsense or some shit.”

“For what it’s worth, I went through the same shit with my best friend back in the day,” she replied.

“Really?” she wondered aloud.

“It was brutal. The reasoning was different, but it still sucked.” Iben frowned and looked straight ahead.

She turned toward Eva. “If you ever need to talk,” Iben started, placing her hand on her shoulder, “anytime, about anything, I’m here for you. Okay?” God, Eva thought she was amazing. “It’s part of the job,” the older girl joked.

“Before I met you, I thought you were going to suck,” Eva confessed. “You seemed like you’d be narcissistic and rude.”

Eva stared at Iben’s beautiful face for a moment. Her eyebrows were done perfectly, not a hair out of place. Then there were her eyes, which were absolutely stunning. She couldn’t quite determine what their color was, but it was somewhere between hazel and green. Her nose was somewhat small, which was super cute. And then there were her lips, oh her lips.

Eva moved in and kissed them. Iben kept her mouth firmly closed and Eva pulled away, feeling more embarrassed than ever.

Iben spoke softly, as to let her down gently, “Eva.”

She moved back wide-eyed, unable to believe what she had just done. What the fuck was she thinking? Iben was four years older than her.  _ Four years _ .

“You’re only 17,” Iben explained. “You’re still in vgs.”

Eva knew that the rejection was coming, but it still hurt. She put her face in her hands and muttered, “I’m such a fucking idiot.”

Somebody knocked on the door. It was Chris. “Eva, it’s almost time to go perform. Come on.”

When she left, Eva turned to Iben. “How could I even begin to like someone like you?” she sobbed. “You’re a symbol of half the things that are wrong with the music industry. You flaunt your money. You sell out your dignity in order to make more money by letting them change whatever the fuck they want about your songs.”

“Chill out,” Iben ordered, like she had any right to tell Eva what to do anymore.

“You made me change  _ my _ song!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, don’t give my that bullshit,” Iben protested. “Your song is a thousand times better since we started working on it together, and you know it.”

Chris called for her again. It was time to go on. Eva shared one more angry glance at Iben before snatching her guitar off the couch and leaving the room. She didn’t need to deal with her bullshit right now. She had to perform.

The announcer introduced her act and, taking a deep breath, Eva wiped away the tears and stepped onto the stage.

The music started as soon as she got to the microphone and she started to sing. With each an every note, her problems faded a bit more. For now, she was just a musician. She didn’t need to be the girl who kissed her 21 year-old producer when she was on the stage. She only needed the music.

All her friends and family were dancing in the crowd, along with countless strangers. They were getting lost in the music, enjoying herself. That’s the reason that Eva loved to sing. She wanted to bring happiness to others, even if she couldn’t have it herself.

She had even seen Jonas in the crowd, even though he had claimed that he wasn’t going to come. That made everything just a tiny bit easier.

When she was done, the entire audience erupted in applause. She walked off the stage so that she could leave, as the end of the song marked the return of her issues.

“That was amazing, Eva!” Iben exclaimed. “You blew the roof off this place.”

“Thanks,” she replied in a flat tone, not really giving a shit what Iben thought. She handed her the guitar. “But I quit.”

Eva walked away, ignoring Iben’s voice, which was calling her to return. She didn’t want to work with someone like Iben. Jonas had told Eva not to sell out to the music industry, but she hadn’t listened. Now she was paying the ultimate price: humiliation for the sake of G-Major Records, whether it be having to deal with Iben or having to rewrite her music.

* * *

Eva sat on the porch of her small house, looking up to the sky and wishing that the city lights wouldn’t drown out the stars. A familiar shiny purple car pulled onto the street in front of her house. What the hell was Iben doing here? Eva thought that she had made her message quite clear at the Vinyl Palace.

The older girl parked her car and climbed out making her way toward where Eva was sitting.

“Hey,” Eva quietly greeted.

“I’m sorry if I led you on,” Iben said, as if that were the only reason that Eva was upset.

She didn’t want to deal with it. “Can we skip this?” Eva suggested.

“Cool,” Iben replied.

“Cool,” Eva repeated softly, looking down at the ground.

Iben took a breath before speaking again. “Working on a song is kind of like falling in love,” she explained. Eva looked up to meet her eyes. “At first it’s a rush, but then it gets painful and sometimes you have to walk away.” 

Eva silently wondered who had hurt Iben to the extent where she believes all love was painful.

Then Iben continued, “But, sometimes? Sometimes you leave with something beautiful. Just like that song.”

Eva smiled a little at the compliment.

“Some change can be good, Eva. Listen to this if you need any proof,” Iben said, handing her a CD. “Don’t quit.”

Eva took the CD and saw that it was a recording of her performance from that night.

“You’re it, Eva. You’re a real star. Fuck, you’re even better, because you aren’t just a star due to your talent. You’re a star because of your heart.”

Iben began to walk away before turning back to look at Eva one last time. “I’ll see you at the studio on Monday at 9 o’clock.”

Eva smiled and looked up at the starless sky. She couldn’t quit being a musician. After all, it was what she was meant to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Eva pulled up her stockings as she sat in the temporary dressing room that her school had set up for her. She had no idea why they decided to do the photo shoot at school. She wasn’t even close to 10% absent yet, couldn’t she skip a day. And then there was the outfit. It totally was  _ not _ her style.

But she had to do the photoshoot. It was for Solid Magazine, which was the only magazine that mattered for new up and coming artists. She was going to be on the cover, which would show the entire world that she wasn’t just some kid with a guitar. She was a real artist. They wanted her, which meant they saw her as a truly talented musician. Soon the rest of the world would too.

She stood up and looked in the mirror. They would see her as a talented musician, but they wouldn’t be able to see the real Eva.

Eva was wearing stockings with a short skirt and a blue cropped jacket. It kind of looked like some slutty schoolgirl Halloween costume. She tried to pull the jacket down, but she couldn’t get it to cover her stomach or her back. This wasn’t anything that she would usually wear. Not because it was provocative, though it definitely was, but because she preferred clothes that were more sporty and boyish. Or maybe even just a plain dress that covered her thighs.

When she walked out of the school, she didn’t feel like Eva. She felt like their doll, all dressed up in whatever they wanted. Jonas’ comments about not giving in to the music industry’s capitalist scheme echoed in her head.

“I’d rather not show my stomach,” she admitted to Chris. It was just the beginning of the problems that she had with the outfix.

“Relax,” Chris said, pulling her through the doorway. “You look absolutely stunning!”

“Stunning?!” Eva exclaimed. “Chris, I look more like a pornstar than a rockstar. We should be focusing on my music, not my hips.”

“Eva, there isn’t much I can do,” Chris admitted. “Solid magazine wants you to wear this and you  _ need _ the cover.” She motioned toward where Iben and Ingrid were standing and waiting for her. “Doesn’t she look great?”

“Seems a bit too sexy for her,” Ingrid replied. Okay, now a part of Eva kinda wanted to keep the outfit on, just to spite her sister. “It just doesn’t really scream  _ Eva _ .”

Chris, who didn’t have a mean bone in her body, ignored Ingrid’s cruel words and continued to make her way down the steps with Eva. “Let’s keep going,” she suggested.

“What is that supposed to mean? I’m perfectly sexy!” she protested.

Ingrid rolled her eyes. “You’re only 17,” she stated, even though Eva was well aware of her young age.

“Eva? You look fantastic,” the photographer told her. “I’m absolutely pumped to be working with you today. We’re going with a rock ‘n roll schoolgirl theme today. It’ll make everyone who sees it want to listen to you.”

_ Or jerk off to the cover _ , Eva thought to herself.

“I need you to kill me through the lens, Eva,” he ordered. “Give me a lot of attitude. You’re cool and rebellious. A true rock ‘n roll goddess.”

She tried. She really did, but Eva was always more used to being a part of the background. Ingrid was used to being the center of attention. She was always more popular and did better in school. And then there were her parents. They travelled a lot for their respectives jobs and, when they were home, all they did was fight. 

A part of her felt like she could get used to all of the attention. It was nice to receive validation for all of her hard work, even if it was in the form of this totally fucked up photoshoot.

An assistant holding a phone walked over to the photographer and whispered something into his ear. He turned around toward all of the people working for him. “Alright, that’s a wrap.”

Eva was confused. She had thought it would take longer than that to get the perfect cover photo. Unless something had happened.

Ingrid voiced her concerns for her. “Well, that can’t be good,” she said in a snarky tone.

Chris grabbed the photographers arm. “Only three shots? I get that Eva’s beautiful, but there’s no way you could have already finished.”

“The shoot is over, Miss Berg,” he replied. An assistant walked toward Eva and took the guitar she was carrying away from her. “We’re giving the cover to somebody more qualified,” he announced.

Eva had tried her hardest, but it wasn’t good enough. They wanted someone with a more sexy vibe than her. Ingrid was right.

* * *

She was sitting in the conference room at the studio with Iben, Chris, Ingrid, and Dr. Skrulle. Chris was panicking. “This is a disaster! They’re going to just give away the cover that Eva rightfully earned.”

“Let’s not overreact,” Dr. Skrulle replied. “It could be worst. I once knew an artist who had her nudes on the cover of a magazine instead of photos from a shoot. Granted, it was a different type of magazine, but-”

“This is Solid’s top artists to watch issue!” Chris exclaimed. “Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get Eva the cover?”

“We have to figure out how we lost it and who has it now,” Dr. Skrulle reasoned. “Then, we can get it back.”

“How can I help?” Eva wondered.

Dr. Skrulle spoke, “You took too long to get dressed-”

“Doctor!” Iben interrupted. “Chill out.”

Ingrid looked at her phone for a moment. “Come on, Eva. We need to get to school.”

“Great,” she muttered in response.

She got up to leave and Dr. Skrulle walked her out, wrapping her arm around Eva’s shoulders. “We’re going to try and fix it, alright? No worries.”

Dr. Skrulle turned to Chris. “You, get to work,” she ordered. “You’re amazing and we’re going to need everything you’ve got in order to get this cover back.”

* * *

She was sitting in chemistry class, bored out of her mind. School was never her strong suit. In fact, sometimes Eva felt like she would be useless if it weren’t for music.

“You can’t fake chemistry,” the teacher said as she handed back their most recent exam. “Not that most of you understand that, judging by your grades on this test.”

“Why is this whole magazine thing bothering me so much?” she asked Noora as the blonde girl was pouring something into their flask. “I didn’t even want it before, but now I can’t have it. Suddenly it feels like the entire world revolves around me getting that cover.”

“I mean, I didn’t miss Norway until I had been a broke student in Madrid for six months,” Noora pointed out. “Sometimes you don’t realize the good in something until you’ve lost it or left it behind.”

Jonas spoke up next, “It’s like in “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell. You don’t what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

“Not everything is about music, Jonas,” Noora snapped. “This is why people don’t want to talk to you. Everything always comes back to music, weed, or skating.”

Eva ignored their weird sexual tension as she stirred whatever the hell was in the flask.

“So, are we going to be able to see you this weekend?” Noora inquired. Eva felt bad. She hadn’t meant to abandon her friends, but between school and work, it was difficult to make time for social activity.

“Yes,” she promised. “Definitely. My parents are going to this retreat that supposed to help fix their mess of a marriage, so yeah, I say we binge the last few episodes of  _ Big Brother _ that I missed and order a pizza.”

“Reality TV is nearly as fake as out politicians, but it sounds fun anyway,” Jonas said with a nod. “I’ll be there.”

“Eva,” her braless teacher said before handing back her exam, “that’s the second time you’ve failed a test. Have one of your parents sign it and bring it back to me next class.”

She handed the next test back to the blond girl. “Noora, good job.”

“Well, I’m guessing we can’t come over anymore,” Jonas said as the teacher walked away. “Not after your parents see that.”

“I’m dead,” Eva confirmed. She knew that they were going to blame it on her music, but that had nothing to do with it. She was just bad at chemistry and that was that.

* * *

Anne Marit set a plate of vegan meatloaf in front of a very annoyed Eva. Great, she was already going to be in trouble after her parents found out about the test and now she had the privilege of eating her least favorite meal, now without meat.

“Meatless meatloaf?” she asked. “Isn’t that just loaf?”

Her dad laughed, but her mom just shook  her head and Eva kind of felt bad. Her mom had put a lot of work into dinner and here she was, making fun of it.

“Are you completely brainless?” Ingrid mocked as she sat down next to Eva to eat.

“Oh,” Eva practically shouted as she remembered something. “I almost forgot to tell you. I have my first talk show on the 21st if you’d like to come.”

“Eva, that’s so exciting!” exclaimed her father.

“I have figure skating nationals that day,” Ingrid replied. Their parents looked at one another obviously conflicted. “You promised that you would come!” Ingrid added, seeming distressed.

Their parents mumbled a little before Anne Marit spoke, “ _ Some _ of us have a hard time keeping our promises lately,” she said as she walked around to the other side of the table where Ingrid was sitting, hitting their dad’s shoulder on the way around.

She set down a plate of meatloaf in front of Ingrid. “I’ll be there, sweetie, if it’s possible,” she promised. “I might have to travel for work anyway.”

“We can’t be in two places at once,” her dad pointed out. “Much less three. If you’re home go with Ingrid-”

“I know that,” she snapped, and yet another round of arguing began as they aggressively tried to talk over each other. 

Eva turned to her sister. “You go to nationals every year. Why are you being so selfish?”

“I’m selfish?” Ingrid sounded outraged.

“Yeah, you are,” Eva retorted.

“I woke up at five o’clock this morning to drive you to your shoot,” Ingrid pointed out. But their parents had work and Ingrid was 18. How else was Eva supposed to get there without getting hounded by people on the busy morning tram that were headed to work.

“Thank  _ you _ ?” Eva was appalled that she’s even suggest it. “Like I want you chaperoning my like a third parent. It’s embarrassing. You’re only a year older than I am.”

Ingrid smirked and spoke a little louder. “So, Eva. How did your chemistry test go today?”

Eva kicked her sister in the leg, which was a bad decision, seeing that it was a surefire way to get her parents’ attention.

Her mom was glaring at her and Eva knew she was going to have to talk about the test. “Okay, fine. I kind of failed it,” she admitted. “But I’m a musician. When am I ever going to use chemistry in my lifetime? It’s not like I’m going to be a chemical engineer or a doctor or anything like that.”

“Honey, you don’t know that yet,” her mom responded. Yeah, Eva was pretty  sure she  _ did _ know that. But she also knew that her mom was just trying to look out for her.

Her dad set down his wine glass. “Anne Marit, let’s not do this-”

“Aksel,” her mom said sternly.

He ignored her. “It’s just a chemistry test.”

“Aksel!” she repeated.

“We don’t know what she’s going through,” he added.”

“Aksel!” Anne Marit yelled again. “She’s only 17. Things could still change for her. We don’t know what is going to happen, despite what you two think.” She turned toward Eva. “You’re grounded.”

“What?!” she exclaimed. “Just because I don’t understand chemistry? You should be grounding my teacher! This isn’t fair!”

Anne Marit sighed. “Maybe we should just stay here this weekend,” she suggested.

“Darling,” her father said, moving closer to his wife, well his wife for the moment at least. “We made a commitment, remember. This weekend has to be about us.”

She nodded and looked toward their daughters. “Ingrid, make sure she works on schoolwork or studies all weekend. She can’t leave the house. No TV, no internet, and no friends.”

Eva put her head in her hands. This was going to be an awful weekend. Ingrid looked to her with a stupid smirk on her face.

* * *

Focusing on the textbook in front of her was impossible. Chemistry was so fucking boring and the book was phrased in a way that was extremely difficult to read. On top of that, Ingrid was doing some kickboxing workout video on the TV and it was turned all the way up.

Eva’s only saving grace was that her lovely dog, Julian, was laying beside her. He was white and fluffy and generally a pretty chill dog, even though she had no idea where he came from. He just kind of  _ showed up _ on their porch one day and had been a part of their family ever since.

“Can you please take your taekwon-dork elsewhere,” Eva pleaded, fed up with  the overwhelming amount of background noise. Ingrid ignored her and kept kicking the air.

Her phone began buzzing on the carpet next to her. Iben was calling. Eva flipped onto her stomach and answered it, speaking quietly. “Hey, I can’t really talk right now. I got grounded.”

“You’re a teenager, I’m sure you’ve snuck out before,” Iben replied. “We are going to meet William Magnusson tonight.”

“The douchey rockstar wannabe?” she wondered aloud. “Why the fuck would I want to talk to him?”

“Because he owns Solid Magazine,” Iben explained. “The cover is his choice. He’s having a party tomorrow at the Penetrator Party House. Come with me.”

Eva didn’t know what to think. “Like a date?” she asked, as flirtatiously as she could, which probably just sounded stupid on the other end of the phone.

“This is important,” Iben insisted. “It’s more than the cover. William has a lot of power in the music industry, due to his father’s money and all the teenage white girls that pine after him.”

“And he thinks I’m just some loser kid playing pretend at music,” Eva replied. “I get it.”

“Tomorrow is the day that we change that. We’ll get there early, while he still has a clear head. “ Eva wished she had as much hope with William as Iben did. “Unless that’s a problem.”

She glanced behind her to see Ingrid working out. She had snuck out of the house many times before. Why would it be any different when Ingrid was in charge? “It shouldn’t be a problem,” she assured her producer.

“Good,” Iben replied, before hanging up the phone. Damn, she couldn’t even say goodbye?

* * *

When the car pulled up in front of her house, Eva quietly snuck out the window of her bedroom, which was conveniently on the basement level. As soon as she came out, she found Ingrid leaning on their car in the driveway.

“You’re so busted!” Ingrid exclaimed.

Eva felt like shouting into  the void. “Ingrid! When  _ aren’t  _ you hanging out with the Pepsi Max crew on the weekends?!”

“I had a feeling you were up to something,” she answered as she walked toward Eva with a hand on her hip.

Jonas came running toward the house. Hadn’t she told him that the  _ Big Brother _ marathon was cancelled? Noora wasn’t there, so she must have sent something to her at least. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“We need to go,” Iben ordered. “It’s going to take us a long time to get to the Penetrator Party House to meet William Magnusson.”

Ingrid’s jaw dropped. “ _ The  _ William Magnusson?!” she practically screeched. “As in the king of the music industry? As in the hottest guy on the planet? There’s absolutely no way I’m not coming with.”

“You’re such a disease, Ingrid,” Eva snapped.

Ingrid offered one of her signature fake smiles. “Thank you!”

“This is an extremely important party. You need to be someone worth something if you want to get in,” she explained.

“We’re going to a party?” Jonas asked, as if she had invited him. “Is there free beer there? I thought we were watching reality TV, but this is ten times better.”

Maybe she had forgot to cancel her plans with him after all.

“You need me,” Ingrid asserted. “Either I come or I call mom.” She turned her gaze toward Iben. “So what’s it gonna be?”

“You,” Iben said, nodding her head toward Ingrid. “Fine. William’s friends would like you anyway, and not for your talent. But you, Jonas? Not a chance. They don’t let stoners like you in. Go back to the skatepark, kid.”

“Chill, bro,” Jonas started. “It’s an afternoon party. It can’t be  _ that _ formal.”

* * *

The party was amazing in some ways and terrible in others. The house itself was huge and super nice. There was a giant pool in the yard that was barely in use and there were tents everywhere. Whether you needed food or a drink, you could find it for no charge.

It definitely had its drawbacks, though. Most of the people that were hanging around seemed stuck up and rude. And then there was the music. William Magnusson was a big name in the music industry. And he was a grown man. Why the hell was he still blasting Russ music at his parties?

Jonas’ eyes widened. “It’s like we died and woke up in a Snoop Dog video,” he commented. “I bet I can score some good weed here with all these rich fucks.”

Ingrid walked over to him. “Don’t you dare embarrass me here. Got it, potbreath?”

“Chill. We won’t run into anyone we know here,” Eva assured her sister. After all, what student at Nissen would be able to get into a party like this one?

“Eva, hey,” greeted a familiar voice. Oh the irony, it was Sara from the Instant Star finals.

“Hi, Sara,” she said feeling a bit unsure. She didn’t really know Sara very well, but she always had seemed a bit stuck up during the competition. Eva decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and continue conversing with her.

“I heard you lost the cover. No hard feelings, right?” Sara said. Eva couldn’t determine whether or not her tone was passive aggressive, but she was more focused on the words. Why would Eva be mad at her for the cover? Unless-

“Wait what?” she asked, hoping that Sara wasn’t going to say what she thought she was.

“Oh you didn’t hear?” Sara replied, pretending to be sad for her. “From what I’ve heard, they’re going to give it to me.”

Sara flipped her hair over her shoulder and strutted away. She liked to act like a queen, but in the end, Eva was still the better musician.

Iben walked over and Eva started questioning her immediately, “What the fuck is Sara even doing here? She lost the competition.”

“Chill the fuck out,” she ordered. “Nobody has the cover yet. She’s here for the same reason you are: to impress William into giving it to her. Don’t let that happen.”

The two of them rounded a corner, only to almost get splashed by somebody jumping into the pool. “You have to learn how to work the room and win people over,” Iben continued. “See the DJ over there?”

Iben pointed to the guy who was standing by the speakers. Eva nodded her head.

“That’s Adam. He’ll play your tracks at other parties. The ones where they don’t just play Russ music.” 

Iben pointed to a girl in a hijab. “See that girl? That’s Sana Bakkoush. She absolutely hates William, but she’s an excellent businesswoman. She’s in charge of all of Solid’s cover features, and she’ll go with whatever is going to make them the most money.”

“Go charm her,” Iben instructed Eva. “As practice at least. I have to speak with William. Maybe he’ll agree to meet you.”

Maybe he’ll agree? That wasn’t part of the deal. Eva thought that she was going to be speaking to him no matter what.

“William hasn’t even agreed to meet me yet?!”

“Cool it,” Iben replied. What kind of producer would lie to the artist that they were supposed to be helping about something as important as talking to the music industry’s poster boy.

William walked out of the mansion and started shaking people’s hands. A bouncer whispered something to him and he turned toward where Iben and Eva were standing.

“I have to go,” Iben told her. “You’re going to be on your own for a bit.” Eva stared at her feeling unsure. “You’ll be fine, Eva,” she assured her before she started walking off, toward William.

She watched them as they exchanged words, but she had no idea what they were saying to one another. She was worried. Could Iben pull this off? Could Eva even pull off mingling with the other partygoers? It was going to be an interesting night.

* * *

Eva was terrible at “working the room.” She had introduced herself to Sana, but was unable to get her attention for very long, as the businesswoman had other people to attend to. Or maybe Eva just hadn’t presented herself as very important. She never was as charismatic as she would have liked to be.

She introduced herself to plenty of other people as well, unable to discern whether or not most of them were important. For the most part, the people she spoke with were shirtless drunk dudes, so it probably didn’t make much of in impact no matter who they were.

Every once and a while she would glance into the crowd to see what her friend and her sister were doing. Jonas was failing desperately to score weed from what it looked like. And Ingrid was getting absolutely smashed. She was eighteen, though. She could drink as she pleased, even though their parents weren’t the biggest fans of it.

She made her way toward DJ Adam, who was more than content to show her how all the tech at the DJ booth worked. It was pretty cool. Maybe she could try spinning tracks one day if the whole songwriting thing didn’t work out.

When she saw Ingrid take her fifth drink of the evening she walked over to her, a bit concerned. “Ingrid, I can’t believe you’re getting this drunk.”

She looked to Jonas. “Fucking snitch.”

“Iben is going to murder me!,” Eva exclaimed. Ingrid being wasted would be a bad image for Eva, which is the last thing she needed at a party like this.

“Iben, Iben, Iben,” Ingrid mocked. “You’re so fucking obsessed with her. It’s pathetic.”

“Oh please, back off, Ingrid,” Jonas said. Eva was happy that he was coming to her defense. 

“Iben is too old,” he added, and her happiness suddenly diminished.

“She’s only 21!” Eva replied, unsure of whether she was defending Iben or herself.

“Yeah, but she’s a musician, so it’s different,” Jonas tried to reason, despite the fact that he wasn’t making much sense. “That’s worse than dog years in your industry.”

Ingrid tried to walk off but Eva caught up with her. “What the hell is your problem?” she asked her older sister.

“The same person has been my problem for seventeen years,” Ingrid asserted. “I only had a year of freedom.”

Eva stuck her hands on her hips. “You know, it’s kind of sad,” she remarked. “I’m getting a tiny bit of attention for the first time since I was in diapers and you’re unbelievably jealous.”

“You know what’s really sad?” Ingrid asked shoving Eva lightly. Damn, she seemed fucking trashed.

“What?” Eva replied, practically begging for a fight.

“The person that you’re becoming,” Ingrid answered. “You’ve been treating me like I work for you. You forget about your friends.”

“That isn’t true,” she insisted, but she was unsure of it herself. She looked to Jonas for support, but he refused to make eye contact, which confirmed that Ingrid was probably correct.

Ingrid continued, “Our parents are always fighting now, and it’s all because of you.” Eva looked down at her feet, surely she couldn’t be to blame for the issues of her parents. 

“Think about someone other than yourself for once, Eva,” Ingrid finished before walking away.

She looked to Jonas once again, but he had nothing so say. Eva didn’t either. Part of what Ingrid said was true. She was letting the music industry change her, even though she had promised not to.

* * *

Eva was walking around the party when she spotted Sara speaking with Sana. A boy with curly blond hair was sitting by them, listening in. Sara was sucking up, but Sana still looked kind of bored. Maybe that was her strategy for dealing with all the brown nosing; don’t show what you’re really thinking.

“So, what you’re telling me is these reality competitions are ruining the business?” Sana said. “Like the one you lost?”

Sara got a bit defensive. “All I’m saying is that some of us are a bit more  _ real _ than others.”

She tried to walk past them, but Sara gripped her arm and pulled her into their conversation. “Take Eva and me, for example,” Sara continued. “I’ve been working toward this my entire life.”

Eva had too, but she didn’t have the same resources as Sara, so nobody knew it except those who were close to her.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Sara said, turning toward Eva. “This sad girl with a guitar deal is good from a marketing standpoint. I get why you beat me, but beneath your bitchy attitude and thrift shop clothes, you’re just a one hit wonder waiting to happen.”

Sana’s expression remained neutral, but the blond boy seemed appalled by her words. Eva was starting to get used to it. When you were in the music industry, you had to deal with sucky people. Especially with the ones that were jealous.

Sara decided to drive the last stinging blade into her heart. “Everyone already knows it but you.”

That was why she lost the cover. “Excuse me,” Eva muttered before walking away. She couldn’t deal with any more of Sara’s snarky commentary on her life.

She made her way over to her sister. “Happy?” she asked Ingrid, who didn’t seem all that different from Sara.

Her older sister didn’t respond verbally, but she looked sad. Somehow, that made Eva feel even worse.

She made her way across the lawn and sat on an empty bench. She hadn’t even noticed that the blond boy was following her until he sat down beside her.

“Fake as shit, huh,” he said. “People like Sara have to shit on others to feel good about themselves.”

“She must feel fantastic then,” Eva replied.

They both were quiet for a moment until Eva spoke again, looking into the blond boy’s sympathetic green eyes. “I hate this,” she admitted. “It seems like ever since I won that stupid fucking contest, everyone wants something different from me.”

“What do you mean?” he wondered aloud.

She started with the most obvious one. “The label wants a new hit. My mom wants me to get all 6s, which has never happened in my life. My sister, Ingrid, wants me  _ dead _ .”

When she stopped talking, she took a deep breath and sighed. Talking about it definitely helped to relieve some of the tension.

The boy nodded. “But do you ever think about what you want?”

Eva shrugged. “I just-” she started, feeling frustrated. “I want to make great music.”

“I don’t want to be schmoozing this fuckboy with a magazine who thinks I’m a loser before he’s even met me,” Eva added. She knew she was getting angrier and more crass, but she didn’t really give a shit.

“You’re new in this industry,” he pointed out. “You have to prove yourself, even though you know you’re talented. Fame is just like vgs, except everyone has more money to waste.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. She liked this guy. He was pretty funny and everything he had said was correct. “And everyone seems even  _ more _ desperate somehow.”

The boy chuckled. “You know, something tells me that you have what it takes to make it out on top here.”

She looked up to see her sister push Sara while shouting nasty things at her. Eva’s jaw dropped. “Is that my sister?!” she exclaimed, even though she already knew the answer.

Eva ran over to them, dodging people and nearly knocking over a tray of drinks. She was too late, though. She had gotten to them just in time to witness Ingrid slapping Sara in the face with the back of her hand.

“In another universe, we might be friends, you shady bitch!” Ingrid shouted as Eva pulled her away.

“It’s not worth it,” Eva gritted out as she continued to pull her sister away, who was pleading for her to let go.

Sara picked up her heeled foot and kicked Ingrid over. Eva turned to her with her eyebrows furrowed. How dare she kick her sister!

“Come at me,” Sara enticed. 

Ingrid took her offer and lunged at her, but she was caught by Eva. Ingrid pushed forward harder and she could no longer hold her back. She went to kick Sara, who grabbed her leg, causing Ingrid to lose her balance. When she fell, she took the other two girls with her, sending them into the swimming pool. By now, everyone at the party was watching.

Eva was so fucking humiliated. There went her last chance at getting the cover. But now, at least Sara wouldn’t get it either.

“Stop fighting!” Eva yelled after climbing out of the pool. She was soaking wet and now her phone probably didn’t work. Fucking fantastic.

The other girls didn’t listen to her. They just continued to wrestle in the pool like children.

* * *

“Amazing work, Eva,” Iben commented sarcastically as they walked out of the party. Both Ingrid and Eva were still soaking wet.

“I guess you could say it went  _ swimmingly _ ,” Jonas added. Eva and Ingrid rolled their eyes in unison at the stupid pun.

Iben glared at him for a moment before continuing, “I was close to getting you the cover back. Then you two started acting like fucking five year-olds and it all went to shit.” 

She turned to Jonas. “And is it true that you spent the entire evening trying to get weed?”

Jonas shrugged, but smiled a little. He seemed a bit out of it, so he probably had ended up getting some decent stuff.

“Can I just say, in my own def-” Ingrid started before she leaned over and promptly puked all over Iben’s expensive heels.

Iben closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to regain her sense of calm. Eva felt bad, but it was also kind of funny to watch.

“That’s nasty,” Eva laughed, earning a death glare from Iben.

Iben offered a fake smile. “An absolutely perfect addition to my absolutely perfect day.”

“Iben,” a voice called from behind them. They all turned to see William himself, accompanied by Sana and the blond boy from earlier.

“Eva has the cover,” William announced. 

They all stood there in shock for a moment. “What?” Iben asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“She made a good impression on an associate of mine,” he informed them, motioning to the blond boy. Who the hell even was he?

Eva offered him a wave, and he saluted back to her with two fingers.

“Sana is in charge of the cover,” he explained. “And for some reason, she trusts that kid to make her decisions for her.”

William looked down at Iben’s feet. “I think you’re going to need some new shoes,” he remarked before walking away.

“I don’t get it,” Eva told Iben. “Did I do something?”

Iben grinned at her. “Everything.”

* * *

It was fairly late when they got back to the house. Ingrid had fallen asleep in the car, so Eva and Iben had to haul her inside together and lay her onto the couch.

“Who the hell was that guy?” Eva asked.

“Isak?”

“Yeah,” Eva answered. She had never heard that name before, but she assumed that it was the same guy.

“He’s a very close friend of Sana’s. They went to vgs together,” Iben explained.

“So they’re like a couple?” Eva wondered, squinting her eyes. They didn’t seem that close at the party, but some couples didn’t show a lot of PDA.

“God, no,” Iben laughed. “Isak is engaged to that young new film director, Even Bech Næsheim. Sana is just a friend. She trusts his judgement and William trusts her.”

“Did you know William before?” she inquired. “It seemed like you two had met somewhere before.”

“I used to be engaged to his cousin, Chris,” Iben replied, like it was common knowledge. “But then he was a cheating asshole, so yeah.”

“You were engaged?!” she exclaimed.

Jonas leaned in towards her ear and whispered, “Not too old, huh?”

She glared at him for a second before shoving him backward. She didn’t push hard enough to hurt him, but he got the message and backed off.

“I was 20 and he was 18,” she said, trying to excuse it. “We were on tour. It was stupid and impulsive. It didn’t last very long anyway, but William still somehow blames me for it.”

“Don’t worry, though,” Iben added with a smile. “You’re going to go a bit wild on your first tour too. That’s just how it is.”

“You two should leave before my parents get home,” Eva suggested, realizing that it had gotten late.

“See you tomorrow for the reshoot?” Iben asked.

Eva nodded. “Of course.”

After they had left, Eva walked over to her sister, who was groaning on the couch like she was in agony.

“Hey,” she said softly. “You should sober up before our parents get home. We don’t need any more added drama in this house.”

Ingrid just groaned in response.

“You know,” Eva continued, brushing her sister’s hair out of her face. “I want to say thank you for sticking up for me against Sara today. Even though it caused so much chaos, it was really cool of you to do that.”

Eva smiled at her sister who was grinning back. Ingrid shrugged. “Well, I am pretty cool, huh,” she said in her typical slightly narcissistic fashion. “But you’re pretty cool too, rockstar.”

She pressed a kiss to the top of her sister’s head. Sure, they didn’t get along all the time, but Eva had no idea what she would do without Ingrid in her life.


	3. Chapter 3

Eva clasped the headphones tightly to the side of her face, listening to the instrumental part of the music as she sung her heart out in the recording studio. She was finally recording her new single, and soon she would have it out for the entire world to hear.

Creating a new song was kind of like going to school. If you wanted to succeed, you had to put in hours of hard work and listen to whatever your teachers told you to do. And even then, sometimes it didn’t work out as well as you’d like.

She couldn’t hear what Chris, Dr. Skrulle, and Iben were saying on the other side of the glass, but they were all smiling and nodding their heads. That had to be a good sign.

After she finished singing, they all started clapping. Dr. Skrulle turned on the microphone on her side, so that Eva could hear her as well. 

“How do you feel like performing this for your school tomorrow?” she asked.

Eva thought for a moment then smiled. “Sounds great!” she said.

It was going to be a great way to promote her music while offering a sneak peak to the people she was closest too. Tomorrow would be fun.

* * *

“You’re going to rock it at school tomorrow,” Iben assured Eva as she got out of the car. It was awfully nice of her to drive her home. Eva was tired of depending on Ingrid for rides. “Make sure you sleep well tonight.”

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m sleeping tonight. This is too exciting!” Eva exclaimed.

Instead of going home, she ran toward Jonas’ house. The flash drive in her hand contained her new single. She wasn’t supposed to show anybody yet, but she needed to give it to Jonas so that he could tell her what he thought about it before she performed the next day.

She picked up some stones off the ground and chucked them one by one at his window, just like she used to do when they were only kids. He was luckier when trying to get her attention. All he had to do was crouch down and knock on her window.

He wasn’t responding to the rocks hitting his window, so she said “Jonas” loudly in a whispering tone, which kind of defeated the point.

The light turned on and he opened the window. How the hell had he not heard the stones hitting it earlier? Did it really just take speaking his name to get his attention?

“Hey,” he called down at her. His black curls were even messier than usual, since he had probably been sleeping until she showed up. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but there’s this cool new thing called a cellphone that you can use to call or text people. It’s the new innovative way of chucking rocks at a window.”

She rolled her eyes. “Just shut up and catch this, Juliet,” she replied before throwing the flash drive up at him. He fumbled with it a little, but was able to keep it in his grasp.

He read the label on the flash drive and then nodded his head. “Is this a future hit single sitting in my hand right now?”

“I hope so,” she answered. “It’s pretty dope, huh?”

He nodded. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Listen to it,” she told him. “I’m going to be performing it tomorrow at school.”

He read the title aloud, “I’m in Love with my Guitar?” He chuckled a bit, but she pushed it to the side of her mind.

“You  _ need _ to be there tomorrow,” Eva pleaded. “Noora is out of town for her cousin’s wedding, so you need to be double the support.”

He grinned. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“See you later!” she called back as she started running toward her house.

Jonas was such an amazing and supportive friend. It was awesome having him around, both for her music and for herself.

When Eva walked into school, she was accompanied by Iben, Dr. Skrulle, Chris, and the principal. Everyone freaked out over Iben when they walked through the door, but that was not unexpected. Eva was old news, but Iben didn’t walk the halls everyday. She was special for them.

“It’s so weird having you here,” Eva admitted.

“It’s even weirder for me,” Iben replied. “Girlz Attack got big right before vgs, so I just stuck with private tutors.”

Eva laughed. “You didn’t really miss much.”

“Pardon the students. We aren’t used to having somebody as famous as you roaming our halls,” the principal apologized. “No offense to Eva. Actually-” He pulled a piece of paper and a pen. “Can you please sign this?”

“Me?” Eva asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“Sure,” she said, taking the pen. She picked up the paper and furrowed her eyebrows. “Is this a math exam?  _ My _ math exam?”

“Yes,” the principal replied with a nod. “My daughter asked me to get you to sign something of yours today.”

“Okay,” Eva said as she signed it. She hoped that his daughter’s image of her wouldn’t be shattered when she saw her grade on the exam. “I hope she enjoys my work with trigonometry.”

They kept walking down the hall and Chris handed her a piece of paper. “This is you schedule for the day. It would be fantastic if you could get to know it well. We want to avoid and missteps if at all possible.”

Eva read over it as the others walked off into their separate directions. She looked up from it and something on the wall caught her eye. It was a giant poster of her. In fact, the Eva on the poster seemed to be bigger than she was.

“This is so embarrassing,” she said as Jonas came up to walk with her toward his locker on their way to their classes. “It’s like the entire day it all about me.”

“Fuck off,” Jonas replied, playfully shoving her. “You and I both know that you totally love it.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, maybe just a little bit. Is that so much of a bad thing?”

“Not as bad as what they’re serving in the cafeteria today,” Jonas shrugged. “Eva’s eggplant parmesan.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head. “Would I kid about something as ridiculous as capitalism causing us to associate people with our food? You know me, Eva.”

They reached his locker and he opened it, pulling out the books. “Okay,” she started. It was time to get down to business. “What did you think of it?”

“What?” he asked. Was he an idiot? Obviously she was talking about her new song.

“About the song,” she clarified. “I really want to know your opinion on it! Did you like it?”

“Oh, yeah,” he started, slapping his palm to his forehead. “About that-” He seemed kind of hesitant. Had he not listened to it? “My computer kind of died last night and then when I tried to restart it, it had to update. It was taking so long that I just knocked out.”

“Really?” Eva was disappointed. His opinion on her music was extremely important to her. Suddenly, she was feeling less sure about the performance. She didn’t know whether her song was good or not.

“I’m so sorry, Eva,” he said, shaking his head. “I really wanted to listen to it.”

“It’ okay,” she assured him. “It isn’t your fault. Here-” She reached into her bag and pulled out a second flash drive. “I have a backup. I’d love if you could go into the library and listen to it before I perform today. I really want your opinion before I have to go on stage.”

“So that you can unveil it to the masses and they can spend their money drooling all over you while starving kids in China make your merchandise?” Jonas joked. Or, well,  _ hopefully  _  he was joking.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied, unsure of how else to respond. It was almost time for Norwegian, so she offered him a small wave before leaving. “See you later.”

* * *

Eva was getting interviewed at school, which was super weird to her. Having the press at school seemed like an invasion of privacy. What if strangers took it as an invitation to visit Nissen randomly? Her vgs was a place of learning, not a tourist attraction.

“Wow, Eva. You’re pretty popular here,” the interviewer remarked. “It must feel great having all your friends look up to you and be proud of you.”

“Yeah,” she replied, even though most of the students at Nissen weren’t really friends of hers. “It’s pretty cool. I mean, it’s weird at times, but still cool.”

“How have things changed for you since you won Instant Star?” she asked.

Eva shrugged. “Not much is that different. So much has, but like it hasn’t at the same time. I’m still the same Eva that sucks at studying.”

The interviewer laughed before continuing. She asked question after question and Eva felt extremely awkward. She was meant to sing and play guitar, not to talk about her personal life.

Her saving grace was when Jonas walked outside and stood next to her. She always was able to feel a little more confident with her friends around. She greeted him quickly, but the interviewer went right back to work.

“Artists have a lot to handle between performances and recording,” the interviewer started. Eva knew exactly where this was going and she kind of dreaded it a little. “How do you balance music and school?”

“School keeps me balanced,” she lied, with a fake smile on her face. The old Eva wouldn’t lie like this. She wasn’t usually a fake person. She decided to say something honest to redeem herself, so she pointed to Jonas. “My friends keep me balanced as well. Noora isn’t here today, but Jonas here is a great friend. I actually value his taste in music more than that of anybody else.”

“Interesting,” the interviewer replied with a nod. “So you must have heard the new song. What’s it like? Is it a bop or a flop?”

She leaned the microphone toward him, and he looked a bit panicky. “It’s very enjoyable,” he said in a flat tone. Eva could tell immediately that he wasn’t speaking from his heart. “In a uniquely familiar way.”

Eva furrowed her eyebrows. She couldn’t believe it. Jonas didn’t like her new song!

“Sounds interesting,” the reporter replied, sounding a little unsure. “I’m excited. The fans are probably excited as well.”

Chris strutted over. “Okay,” she started, clasping her hands together. “Thank you for the lovely interview, but Eva here has to do a sound check soon.”

She grabbed Eva’s arm and pulled her toward the building. She kept looking back at Jonas, but he refused to meet her gaze.

* * *

 

The sound check seemed pointless. She was just standing there, on the stage, and Iben was checking the microphones for her. Occasionally stopping to bitch at the sound guys about the littlest things.

“Iben, what do the words ‘uniquely familiar’ mean to you?” Eva asked, secretly hoping that Iben would deny her suspicions about Jonas disliking her new single.

“They mean ‘I’m a stoner who thinks he knows everything about anything,’” she said into the microphone. “Keep tuning. Your G is still flat.”

“Be honest, Iben,” Eva continued. “What the hell does it mean?”

“Why do you give a shit about what he says anyway?” Iben wondered. “You’re about to perform live for your school and you know that you have the talent. Don’t stress over that loser in a snapback.”

“It’s Jonas,” she reasoned, like that explained everything because, to her, it did. He was her best friend and he had always been there for her. He was there for years before she even met Noora.

She tried to tune the guitar and a screeching sound rang through the auditorium, prompting Iben to scream at the sound guys once more.

Jonas came up onto the stage from behind her. “Hey,” they greeted in unison. Oh god, it was already awkward and the conversation had barely begun.

“We need to talk,” he told her. “Like, now.”

They walked off the stage together and he started talking as soon as they made their way down the aisle. “Don’t go on stage today,” he advised her. “The students here? They’re going to murder your reputation, which I know is something that you care about.”

“What are you talking about?” she wondered. He was making no sense whatsoever. The students had seemed pretty fucking psyched for this when she walked into school that morning. Besides, they were getting out of class early for this.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, holding it up so that she could read it. It was a flyer with black and red lettering that announced a group walkout during her performance. They hadn’t even heard her song and they already hated it.

“I found this on my locker,” Jonas explained. “It was on all the other ones too. A ton of kids are in on it. They’re going to walkout right in the middle of your song so that you look bad in front of the media.”

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a gray piece of fabric. “They even made t-shirts, which is frankly a waste of money.”

He unfolded the t-shirt to reveal Eva’s name printed in black, but crossed out in red. It was a bit ridiculous and she would have laughed if it wasn’t so bad for her career.

“That’s so fucking rude,” she remarked, even though she knew it was obvious. “Why would they even do that to me? What have I done wrong?”

“Eva, we’ve always been background characters at Nissen. We were never popular. We’re not planning on being Russ next year,” he reminded her.

“So? They’ve never cared about what we did before,” she replied.

“Exactly,” Jonas said. “They’ve always been the ones getting all the attentioned. They feel threatened now that we’re taking it, even if it’s only for a moment.”

“I don’t care if they don’t like me,” she shrugged. “They’re going to like the song. It’ll win them over.”

“Eva,” he said softly, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, but the song. It’s awful.”

“I lied,” he admitted. “I played it over and over, but it didn’t get any better. Your voice is fantastic, but the song itself just isn’t good. It’s cheesy and cliche corporate crap. You can’t let capitalism write your songs.”

She tried to come up with something to say to him, but it was impossible. She had worked her ass off for this song, but Jonas hated it, which meant that it was terrible. She wanted to scream, but she knew that she couldn’t do that in school, especially when the media was present.

Eva resigned herself to running into an empty classroom so she could cry. God, she felt so fucking humiliated.

Once she had wiped the tears away, she had another interview. This one was for some magazine, so she no longer had to worry about being filmed, which was nice.

“So you’ve almost finished your first album and you’re about to give your classmates an early taste of your new song. Things are happening fast,” he summarized. “How do you feel, Eva?”

She sighed. “Kind of sick,” she admitted.

He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before moving on. “And how would you describe your new single?”

“That’s a wonderful question that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently,” she replied honestly. “Ummm-”

“It’s a really fun song,” Chris offered enthusiastically. She was such a nice and supportive person. It was good to have her as part of the G-Major Records team. She turned to the reporter. “I promise you that you’re going to love it just as much as I do.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, unlike every other musician you’ve encountered,” Eva told him. “The song isn’t that good. It’s capitalist crap.”

The reporter raised his eyebrows and the rest of Eva’s team looked to each other in a panic.

“Eva,” Dr. Skrulle pleaded.

Eva shook her head. “I can’t do this right now,” she informed them before walking out of the room, hoping that nobody would chase after her.

The process of making music itself was amazing, but the people she had to deal with were not. And if she put out a bad song, then she couldn’t take it back, no matter how hard she tried.

* * *

Eva walked into the empty music room and shut the door behind her, swinging her arms back and forth. She found a seat facing the window and sat down, trying to reflect on everything that had happened since she got to school that day, even though there was so much going on.

She didn’t hear the door open and somebody walk in, so she was surprised when she heard the clearing of a throat behind her. It was Jonas and he was holding his arms up in surrender, which was kind of ridiculous. Were they even fighting? Sure, he had upset her, but he was honest and that’s what really mattered.

She looked away from him. If he thought it was a fight, then maybe he didn’t get the point of anything at all.

“Eva, I’m sorry,” he said, even though she refused to look back at him. “I didn’t really mean what I said. If people are going to walk out on you or your song, then they’re fucking stupid.”

“Do you actually mean that?” she replied. Just an hour ago, he was shitting all over her song, but now it suddenly wasn’t that bad. It sounded to her like Jonas was just making shit up so she’d perform.

“Of course,” Jonas assured her. Eva was less than convinced. “Eva, it isn’t your fault that the song is shit. The studio made you go for that commercial cheesy sound. You’re just another victim of the system.”

She really wanted to punch him right then and there. “I wrote the song myself, Jonas,” she gritted out. “If the song is shitty, then I’m a shitty songwriter.”

Eva stood up from her chair to leave. She wanted to cry and she couldn’t be trapped in that room with him for another second.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he protested in a panicky voice. “I wanted to make you feel a bit better.”

The tears were already welling at the bottoms of her eyes as she passed him. “Well fantastic fucking job because I feel a hell of a lot worse now.”

She slammed the door behind her and wiped her eyes so that her peers wouldn’t be able to see that she was crying. Sure, Jonas was being honest with her, but that didn’t make it suck any less.

She was sitting inside a bathroom stall, silently crying her eyes out. She heard the door open and suddenly the other girls were screaming. Oh great, Iben was here. Could they not freak out in the bathroom? After all, even celebrities had to pee sometimes.

“Get out,” Iben ordered and Eva could hear the sound of feet shuffling toward the exit. “It’ll just be a minute.”

Eva silently walked out of the stall and sat on the ground with her back against the wall, facing Iben.

“Imagine the headline,” Iben said, spreading her hands apart in the air as if she was revealing something. “Iben Sandberg kicks innocent girls out of their school bathroom to be alone with Eva Mohn. Can’t wait to read that one.”

Iben walked over and leaned back against the wall that Eva had her back to. “You’re on in ten,” she told Eva hesitantly. She was probably worried that Eva would quit the performance, which was something that she definitely was considering at this point. “When Christina Aguilera went to prom, the entire floor emptied out when her song came on,” Iben informed her, somehow thinking that it would be reassuring.

“Great,” Eva replied. “Now I can’t go to any fucking school dances or parties either.”

She hauled herself up off the ground because she wanted to leave. Iben grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

“I’m just saying, every artist has dealt with empty rooms before,” she said.

Eva wrestled her her arm from Iben’s grasp. “This isn’t some empty room, Iben!” she exclaimed. “This is my school! I’ll be in front of my classmates, my friends,  _ and  _ the cameras.”

“Look, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but you’re going to face a lot of shit that’s worse than this,” Iben said, placing her hands on her hips. “You’re going to have to deal with terrible reviews, empty stadiums, and cancelled tours, but you won’t be able to quit.”

Iben walked toward her and put her hand on the wall right next to where she was standing. Once again, they had gotten into this position where their faces weren’t very far apart. She continued speaking, offering a brief glance toward Eva’s lips, “I need to know that you can handle this.”

She looked up to the ceiling. “Iben, how do I make myself stop caring about what others think?”

“By caring more about your opinion of yourself. Don’t ever value anyone’s thoughts on your music over your own,” Iben insisted. She softly set her hand upon Eva’s shoulder, and it felt like a burst of electricity coursed through her body. “Eva, do you love that song?”

Eva looked into Iben’s kind eyes. “Yes,” she confessed. “I did. But then Jonas made me doubt it.”

Iben pulled back and shook her head. “Forget Jonas!”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes before nodding. “You know that I love it.”

“Don’t you ever let your audience or your friends or even me tell you if a song rocks,” Iben stated. “You have to go out there and show them.” She brushed Eva’s hair out of her eyes. “I believe in you.”

Iben walked out of the bathroom, leaving Eva to make the decision as to whether to go on. She wanted to do it. The only issue that Eva had in her heart now was her ever-apparent feelings for the older girl.

* * *

“Here she is, Nissen’s very own Eva Kviig Mohn!” the principal announced. There was some applause as she walked on, so not everyone there was against her, which was a bit reassuring.

She could see a few people wearing that anti-Eva t-shirt in the front row, but she ignored him. There still were far more fans than critics in the crowd.

“This is my new single, and I think you’re going to love it,” she said honestly. If she loved it, then some of them would too.

As soon as the started strumming, people got up to leave. She even heard some people hurling insults at her. 

Eva ignored them and started singing. This was her song and she was determined to perform it, so matter what other people thought.

She was getting into the groove of it, letting the song flow out, regardless of who was leaving or what people thought. This was her time to shine.

A man in the back started loudly booing until Iben walked up to him and said something. Suddenly, he began cheering loudly. Damn, that girl could be intimidating when she wanted to be.

People in the audience started clapping then and a bunch of them walked to the front of the auditorium and started dancing. For every hater, she had at least two fans. Even Jonas came up and started dancing, despite all his complaints about the song.

Eva was using her music to bring happiness to people, which was her main goal in life. She had even made Iben smile and nod along to the beat.

When she finished, she was greeted by massive applause. She had been right. Her song  _ was _ a hit.

* * *

That afternoon, Eva walked home with Jonas. As they made their way side by side toward the neighborhood that they both lived in, they were smiling. Although the day had started out kind of rough, it had vastly improved once she finally went on stage and sung.

“I have to admit,” Jonas started, turning to look at her. “Your song was actually really good when you sang it live. It was fucking awesome.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that, Jonas.”

“It was a compliment!” he insisted.

Eva placed her hands on her hips. “You’re lying to me again, Jonas,” she said. “We’ve been friends for ages. It isn’t hard for me to figure it out.”

“I just don’t get it,” he admitted. “I’ve given input on your music before. It’s how I contribute to your songs.”

“I know,” Eva replied with a shrug. “But you’ve always loved them. And now the stakes are higher for me, since I have a record deal.”

“Exactly. I want you to come to me for my honest opinions,” Jonas offered.  “And sometimes I’m not going to like certain things. That’s just how it is. That doesn’t mean everyone will hate it. I need to know that you can handle my opinion.”

“It’s not okay, Jonas,” she confessed. “Today was hard from me because of what you said. Your opinion meant more than my own. That’s not how it should be.”

She paused and took in a deep breath before speaking again, “But it will be fine. I’ll take your input into consideration, as a friend. But it’s still  _ my  _ music.”

Shoving him playfully, Eva laughed. “Don’t look so sad. We’re still friends.”

They walked home together, grinning once again. Jonas was a great friend, but that’s what he was:  _ a friend _ . Nothing more.


	4. Chapter 4

Eva was exhausted. She had spent day upon day going from radio station to radio station, trying to get her music on the air. She would go there, hand them a CD and, if she was lucky, they would let her play the song for them, live or on the disc. 

It was like a cheap competition that they would hold in a bar, but the stakes were higher than ever. Not to mention that Eva  _ hated _ competing, despite the fact that she had won Instant Star.

Every single time, she was let down. The song was always the wrong genre or they just didn’t like it. One producer even had the gall to hand her Sara’s CD, telling her that her music was what the public wanted. He said that, even though she lost the competition, her single was a hit. As for Eva’s? Not so much.

She stood in Dr. Skrulle’s office and paced back and forth, waiting for her boss to come in and speak with her.

“I just finished listening to Sara’s new song,” she announced as she walked through the doorway. “It’s going to be the next big hit if we don’t beat her to the market with something better. We need something new and we need it fast”

“Iben and I will get started straight away,” Eva promised. She was nervous, but she was sure that they could make something fantastic if they worked hard enough.

“Eva,” Dr. Skrulle started. There seemed to be a bit of uncertainty in her expression. “Could you sit down with me for a second?”

She shook her head. “Whatever it is. just tell me.”

Dr. Skrulle sighed. “Iben has chosen to leave her position as your producer.”

Eva’s face fell. Sure, she was unsure of Iben in the beginning, but now she looked up to her as a mentor. Not to mention that there couldn’t be a worse time for her to leave. After all, she needed to record a new song as soon as possible.

She ran out of Dr. Skrulle’s office, determined to find the older girl and convince her to stay.

* * *

“You’re leaving?!” Eva shouted at Iben when she finally found her making her way out of the building.

“I’m a freelance employee here,” Iben explained. “I’m allowed to leave any time that I’d like.”

“Why are you going it now?” she asked, panicking. “Was it something that I did?”

“I need a short break from this,” Iben replied. “A vacation of sorts. I’m planning on spending some time in Bergen.”

“So you’re just ditching me?” Eva wondered, trying not to sound hurt. “We have to write a single as soon as possible. Iben, I need you.”

“You can write the single with someone else,” Iben said before patting Eva’s shoulder. “I believe in you. I’m sure that your new producer will be fantastic.”

Eva stood there in disbelief and Iben left. This wasn’t just some vacation. She was going to be getting a new producer and she was going to have to start all over again. This had to be one of the worst things to happen to her since her music career started.

* * *

When her dad walked into the house, Eva was looking through his countless records, hoping that she would be able to find some inspiration among them.

“Are you alphabetizing my records for me? I’d love some organization among them,” her father joked, walking toward her.

“Don’t worry about it,” she gritted out, continuing to flip through the records. She didn’t have  _ time _ to talk to him right now.

He stood there, staring at her expectantly as she looked through them. She sighed in defeat. “Okay, so I’m not doing great right now,” she confessed. “The radio stations hate my single, Dr. Skrulle is freaking out in her weirdly chill way, Iben is quitting, and I’m going to have to start from the beginning with a brand new producer.”

Her dad nodded his head. “That does sound like it’s pretty awful. I can see why you aren’t doing great,” he sympathized.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “It’s an absolute disaster.”

His eyes brightened and he turned around to point at her. “Maybe not. There might be some hope on these dusty shelves,” he said as he reached up and plucked a record from the top.

Shaking a Bob Dylan record in front her face he explained, “This is one of my favorite albums of all times:  _ The Basement Tapes _ . These songs weren’t recorded in a nice formal recording studio, but in their own homes, specifically Bob’s place: Big Pink.”

“And?” Eva said hesitantly, not quite getting the point.

“Sometimes, if you want to create something great, you have to start over and mix things up a bit.”

She stared at the record for a moment until she got the idea. He eyes widened as she looked to her dad. “That’s it!” she exclaimed. “We can go up to the cabin this weekend!” Eva shoved the record back at him. “We can hole up and write a new song. It’ll go well, which will make Iben want to stay!”

She ran away, grinning. This had to be her best idea yet.

* * *

“Hello?” Iben said on the other end of the phone. Her assistant had told Eva that she was busy, so the call would be short, but she somehow doubted that she couldn’t make time for her.

“You need to come with me to my family’s cabin this weekend,” Eva informed her. “We can write a new song and then you’ll want to stay.

“What about me quitting did you not understand?” Iben replied in a snarky tone. “I need a vacation.”

“It will be like a working vacation,” Eva insisted. “I can make my world famous spaghetti and then we can hang out and work on the new single. It will be super chill.”

“I’m pretty busy this weekend,” she said. “I don’t know if I have the time for this.”

“Come on, Iben. Tell me what I did,” Eva replied. If the older girl was this insistent on not working with her, she must have fucked up somewhere. Was this still about the kiss that they shared back by the pier? She would have thought Iben would be over that by now.

“Nothing,” Iben answered. “If anybody is at fault for your failed song, it’s me. Not you.”

“Is that what this is about?” She couldn’t believe that Iben blamed herself for Eva’s song. A song that Jonas said he didn’t like in the first place. “Don’t worry about that song. We can start from the beginning and reinvent ourselves.”

“I don’t know, I-” she started, before being interrupted by Eva.

“How about this. Let’s make a deal,” Eva offered. “If we can create a new hit while at the cabin, then we keep working together.”

“Fine,” Iben said. Eva could practically  _ hear _ her eyes rolling through the phone. “Just us?”

“Yeah, about that,” she started. “My two best friends might be coming along as well. Don’t worry, though. They can be chill.”

Iben sighed loudly. Eva knew that she hated Jonas, but it didn’t really matter to her. This cabin belonged to her family and she could bring whoever she liked.

“Be there soon,” Iben promised.

This weekend was going to be fantastic. She would be spending it with Iben and her two best friends, she was going to write a new hit, and she got to spend more time with Iben.

* * *

“I’m only coming because of your music,” Jonas clarified. “I still think Iben is a stuck-up bitch for playing with your heart.”

“I think I know why,” Noora teased, and Jonas went pale. Eva longed for the day that the two of them would get along.

“And who are you?” he asked before tapping his temple twice. “Oh yeah, you’re that girl from Madrid who didn’t have any friends until Eva took pity on you.”

Iben’s car came speeding into the driveway. Eva had no idea how she didn’t have countless tickets or a revoked license, seeing as she drove so fast.

“You  _ do _ realize that we aren’t all going to fit in that overpriced piece of crap,” Jonas remarked. “It only has two seats. There are four of us.”

“Don’t start, kid,” Iben replied. She pointed to the car parked out on the street. “Blondie here can drive that one,” she said, pointing to Noora.

Noora had just turned 18 in the past month, but her parents felt guilty for not being in her life, so she sent her enough money for a license and a used car. It was perfect for their circumstances.

“You and Noora can go together, Jonas,” Iben suggested.

Both of their eyes widened and they stared at Eva, shaking their heads. She rolled her eyes. Why were her friends so fucking ridiculous sometimes?

“We have to talk about the song,” Eva reasoned, even though she really just wanted some alone time with her producer.

Noora forced herself to smile and pulled Jonas close. “Don’t worry, Eva. Jonas and I are going to have a grand old time in the car together.”

Iben smiled. “That’s cute.”

Eva couldn’t really tell if she was being sincere or not, since her eyes were covered by her favorite pair of round, white sunglasses.

* * *

When they walked into the cabin, Eva couldn’t stop smiling. It was still just her and Iben, as the others had not arrived yet, probably due to Iben’s knack for speeding.

“I love this place,” Eva said as she breathed in the fresh cabin air. Well, maybe it was actually kind of musty inside, but to Eva it smelled like running around and playing tag with her sister on summer evenings.

She realized that Iben was used to five star hotels and million dollar mansions. “I guess it probably doesn’t seen all that great to you, though,” she added.

Iben shook her head. “No, it’s actually pretty cool,” she assured her. “It reminds me of where my grandparents used to live, although that was much further north than this.”

Eva started to unpack and Iben roamed around. “Is this you and Ingrid, actually getting along?” 

She turned her head to see Iben pointing to a photo of them as children. It was from Eva’s birthday when they went to the beach and Ingrid had buried her in the sand. She smiled at the memory.

“Yeah, we didn’t always fight, you know,” Eva informed her. “We used to be best friends. We would play and laugh and sing together.”

“I think you need a bigger mantle,” Iben laughed. It was piled with old photos and awards that her sister had won. “Or maybe Ingrid needs to stop winning so much random shit.”

Eva chuckled. “Yeah, that’ll never happen. She’s practically addicted to winning. Probably because she loves the attention that comes with it.”

Iben kept pointing Ingrid out, which was starting to make her a bit jealous, even though she knew that she shouldn’t be. Iben wasn’t her girlfriend. She was too old for her anyway. And, besides, Ingrid had never been with anyone, save for her short sexless relationship with Jonas a few years back.

“Why are you so interested in knowing about Ingrid all of a sudden?” Eva inquired, trying to mask the jealousy with curiosity.

“Who said I was,” Iben protested, shrugging awkwardly.

Eva eyed her carefully. “No one did.”

“We need to get to work,” Iben said, diverting the topic to something different.

Shit. Iben was interested in Ingrid. It was going to be hard for Eva to not envy her sister if something happened but, then again, this weekend that they were spending together could be a chance to change her mind.

* * *

Iben and Eva sat in the kitchen together, trying desperately to come up with a new idea for a song.

“Every song is a story,” Iben said, after a few moments where they were completely silent, searching for ideas. “What’s our story about?”  
_Our story_. This wasn’t supposed to be Eva’s story. It was her story with Iben. She found that to be comforting. Even Iben knew that their story had to be one and the same in order to be a hit. 

“Okay,” Eva started. “It’s about this girl.”  _ Eva _ . “And she really likes this other girl, but it isn’t just any girl, she’s most likely her soulmate. The girl of her dreams.”  _ Iben.  _

Iben nodded before sitting down with a guitar, ready to play. “And where are we? What’s the setting?” She pulled the guitar pick out and looked toward Eva. “A train,” she suggested. “These two girls meet there.”

“Okay.” Eva nodded as Iben looked down at the guitar.

“The attraction?” Iben says, as she turned her head to look Eva in the eyes, sending shivers down her spine. “Obvious.”

Iben started strumming and singing. It was a love song. Eva felt like she was being serenaded, but then she remembered that they were supposed to be working together. She sung the next few lines, and suddenly, their love song was a duet. Their story, their song, their duet, and, maybe, their love.

“Who’s gonna put their heart on the line,” she sung, looking deep into Iben’s green hazel eyes, which were staring right back at her.

They sung the chorus together, and Eva had never felt closer to someone in her life. She wanted to move her head forward just a few inches and kiss Iben’s lips once again.

Behind them, the door creaked open. Eva’s head snapped around to see Ingrid, who was still wearing a suit from the debate competition that she was supposed to be at. Why the hell was she here?

She put a hand on the doorway. “Hey!” she greeted, as if she was meant to be at the cabin the entire time.

Eva smiled at Iben. “Could you give me a second?”

She grabbed Ingrid by the arm and hauled her outside so that they could talk.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Eva exclaimed once the door had shut behind her and Iben wouldn’t be able to hear.

“I couldn’t be in the house,” Ingrid explained, even though it didn’t make any sense. Eva being away meant that Ingrid could be the center of attention once more.

“What?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I figured that maybe we could talk,” Ingrid suggested. Maybe they could  _ talk?  _ Really?

“Okay, talk,” Eva ordered.

Ingrid looked at her for a moment and then looked in through the window of the door, toward where Iben was sitting. “Forget it,” she said.

Eva’s fists balled at her sides. Had Ingrid only come here to steal Iben from her? She had picked a bad time, because the two of them were definitely having some sort of moment in there.

“This is so fucking stupid, Ingrid,” Eva said, on the verge of tears. “You did not come here to talk to me.” She pointed to the house. “You came here because of her. Am I right in assuming that?”

Ingrid turned around, a mix of unreadable emotions on her face. “Are you a fucking idiot?” she asked. “I didn’t come here to flirt with your fucking producer, okay.”

“Good!” Eva all but shouted at her. She wasn’t quite sure if she could believe a word that Ingrid said. “Because you don’t have a chance. She would never go for a narcissistic nobody like you.” 

Ingrid’s face fell. Eva knew that she had probably gone too far, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. It was time for Ingrid to stop getting so involved in her life.

“Iben actually has taste,” Eva finished, even though she knew it was like twisting the knife that she had thrust into Ingrid’s side with her last comment.

“Guess that we don’t have to worry about you then,” Ingrid replied. Part of Eva knew that she was right, but the comment just made her even more jealous and angry.

Eva crossed her arms and shrugged. “I guess not,” she said quietly.

Ingrid walked back into the cabin without another word, looking more pissed off than ever.

* * *

Iben had made garlic bread to go with Eva’s spaghetti. She gave each of them a piece as they sat down to eat and Eva could swear she heard a clanging sound as the charred piece of bread hit her plate.

Ingrid took a bite and she could her the slow crunching sound from across the table.

“So what do you think of the garlic bread?” Iben asked expectantly. “It’s a Sandberg family recipe.”

Eva didn’t have the heart to tell her how awful it was. She kind of felt bad. Iben had worked so hard to make  _ this _ .

“It sucks,” Ingrid replied, having no trouble with telling it like it is. “I guess it’s a good thing that you’re a musician.”

Iben took the seat directly next to Ingrid. “I couldn’t help but notice that you have a lot of gymnastics trophies in here.”

“I don’t do anything unless I know I can succeed at it,” Ingrid said with a smile. “Do you know how to tumble?”

“She’s a musician,” Eva pointed out.

Iben looked at her strangely before answering Ingrid’s question. “I was a gymnast up until we started Girlz Attack. I wanted to be a professional gymnast when I was a kid.” She looked toward Ingrid. “Do you have any big plans of pursuing gymnastics?”

She shook her head. “Norway only ever seems to send male gymnasts to the Olympics. I’m more interested in politics or business.”

Since she had finished eating, Eva cleared her throat loudly. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we need to finish this song. After all, that  _ is _ why we’re here.”

Eva grabbed her guitar and ventured to the porch with Iben in tow, while Ingrid was left alone at the table.

* * *

“I think something’s up with Noora’s phone,” Eva stated as she tried to call her for what had to be the tenth time, trying to figure out where the hell they were. “They should have been here hours ago.”

“You saw Noora’s car, right? It’s a piece of junk,” Iben pointed out. “Not to mention that she’s only just gotten her license. It’s gonna be a little while.”

She patted the guitar before continuing, “Let’s get to work, Eva.”

“Back to our story. So this first girl,” Iben began. “What is going on in her brain right now?”

“This girl is super frustrated,” Eva said, because it was true. What the hell was going on in Iben’s head? How did she feel? “Insanely frustrated.”

Iben nodded. “Okay, we can work with that.”

Ingrid walked out onto the porch with a beer in hand and sat in one of the chairs, watching them as they wrote the song. Iben was gazing at her as she strummed.

Eva started singing, which commanded some of Iben’s attention back toward her. Iben looked toward Ingrid some more. 

“Stop!” Iben said, eyes widening. “I think I have an idea!”

“What is it?” Eva asked.

“An idea for the opening,” the producer clarified. “The dream girl isn’t a random stranger on a train. She knows her and she knows that they are going to hook up. She also knows that it’s going to get messy.”

Iben started strumming the guitar again and singing. Once again, they were dueting their song. Eva was almost glad that Ingrid was sitting there, watching them sing this love song to one another.

When they finished, Eva noticed that Iben was staring at Ingrid again. Was this even their story? Was it really their song?

* * *

Eva was panicking. She had tried Jonas’ cell as well, and neither him nor Noora were picking up. They should have arrived a long time ago, despite the shitty car. “Do you think something happened to them?”

Iben rolled her eyes. “They probably just took a wrong turn somewhere. Stop worrying. They’ll get here eventually.”

The speaker that was blasting Ingrid’s spotify playlist, started playing  _ Touch _ by Little Mix. Ingrid grinned and turned the music up. “I love this song!” she exclaimed. She grabbed Iben by her wrists and pulled her up. “Come dance with me!”

“My dancing days are over,” Iben complained.

“Yeah, she doesn’t want to dance,” Eva agreed.

“You’re only 21,” Ingrid argued. “Why don’t you show me some of your old moves from Girlz Attack.”

Eva shut off the speakers. “Get a fucking hint, Ingrid!” she shouted. “Iben doesn’t want to dance with you!”

She shoved her and Ingrid just crossed her arms. “You really don’t want to do this right now,” she warned.

“Can we all just calm down,” Iben begged. “This is supposed to be chill, right?”

Neither of the other girls listened to her. “Classic Eva,” Ingrid continued. “You’ve always been dad’s favorite, but the second you aren’t the center of attention, you freak out like it’s my fault.”

“What?” Eva asked. Somehow, Ingrid had everything turned around in her head. “Me? Come on, Ingrid. You and I both know that you want to be the center of attention. You think you’re the shit and you want everyone else to think that too. You are always try to control people, when you have no right to.”

“When?” she yelled. “Show me one fucking example!”

Oh, Ingrid did _ not _ want to go there. “Pick any fucking day,” Eva warned. “What about on Christmas when you decided that you were vegan for the week and we had to eat fucking tofu instead of lamb’s ribs! That was so fucking stupid!”

“Stupid!” Ingrid shrieked. “Say’s the girl who failed two fucking chemistry tests in a row. And let’s not even get started on your grade on your last Norwegian paper.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Eva said, a bit quieter. Ingrid had gone too far. She was purposely embarrassing her in front of Iben,

“It’s a good thing you have music, huh,” she remarked. “Since you could never make it into uni.”

“Shut up!” she screamed.

Ingrid balled up her fists before yelling, “No! You shut up.”

Iben reached forward and pulled them apart. “You both can shut up,” she commanded sternly.

Eva was humiliated. Iben probably saw her as a child now, just waiting to pick a fight with her sister. “Good job,” she whispered, before storming back into the cabin.

* * *

Being inside help Eva to disconnect from her fight with her sister. She could finally breathe again. Instead, she was far more worried about Noora and Jonas. Where the hell were they?

She was afraid that something had happened to them. Maybe the car had broken down. Maybe it had crashed.

Eva went up to glance out the window again, in the blind hope that she would see her friends.

Instead, she caught a glimpse of Ingrid and Iben, standing only inches apart, talking to one another. Iben pressed a kiss to Ingrid’s forehead. Eva hoped that that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t. A mere second later, Ingrid moved in and kissed the older girl’s lips. Iben kissed back. It was mutual, and Eva was a fucking idiot for leaving the two of them alone together.

The song wasn’t about Iben and Eva. It was about Iben and  _ Ingrid _ . It wasn’t Eva and Iben’s story. It wasn’t their love.

* * *

Eva was strumming her guitar and playing  _ her _ song. Which was more of a tragedy than a love song. She didn’t need anymore help from Iben on this one. After all, she was already the inspiration for it.

She heard a clapping sound behind her and turned see Iben herself standing there. Eva hadn’t heard her some in. How long had she been there, watching her?

“You’ve got the ending,” Iben remarked. Maybe it was still their song. After all, this weekend had been a fucking tragedy.

Eva sniffled a little. “I actually think you’re the one who finished it.”

She got up to push past the older girl. “Eva, wait,” Iben protested, trying to hold her back.

“This isn’t about you, Iben,” she said, aware of the frustrated tone in her voice. “Ingrid is just using you as another one of her fucking trophies.”

“I’m not anybody’s trophy,” Iben snapped. Eva had pissed her off, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“She’s gotten everything that she’s ever wanted her entire life,” Eva screamed.

Iben crossed her arms. “Even I can think of one thing that Ingrid hasn’t gotten?”

“What is it?”

“A sister,” Iben said a bit more quietly. “Everything fades in life, Eva. Your friends and you’re family? They are forever. Don’t lose them now.”

Jonas and Noora walked into the cabin, and Eva couldn’t even try to mask her tears. She was a mess and everyone knew it.

“What’s up?” Jonas greeted.

Eva shook her head. “We’re leaving,” she told them before walking out of the cabin.

“But we just got here!” Jonas called after her. She ignored him. She couldn’t waste another second at this fucking cabin

* * *

Dr. Skrulle played the recording of their song one last time, a smile spread across her face. “We are going to crush Sara’s chances of being the next big single,” she announced. “I need musicians in here as soon as possible.” She paused. “That is, if we still have a producer on board.”

Iben laughed. “I suppose that Bergen is a bit overrated. Sure, it’s prettier and nicer than Oslo in every way, but I’d rather be here.”

“Good,” Dr. Skrulle said, smiling.

She left the room, leaving Eva alone with Iben. Before last weekend, she would have been elated, but now it just kind of sucked.

“The drama sucks,” Iben started, moving to sit right beside Eva, “but I do really love making music with you, Eva.”

Eva shrugged and looked over to the other girl. “Me too,” she admitted. “So, do you even like Ingrid?” she asked, trying to sound more protective than jealous.

Iben stood up. “I think that we still have some work to do.”

She didn’t know whether that was a yes or a no, but she could figure that out later.

* * *

Eva burst into her house with a smile on her face and a flash drive containing the new song in her hand. She saw her dad as soon as she walked in.

“Pappa!” she shouted, wrapping him in her arms. “You’re a genius! They loved the song, it’s going to be my new single, and it’s all thanks to you.”

Ingrid was looking at them with a sad expression. She was probably just jealous of Eva’s success.

“I’m so proud of you!” he exclaimed. “I’m going to go get my laptop so we can listen to this right now.”

He ran off to get it. Eva decided to approach Ingrid and try to talk with her. They needed to start getting along eventually and there was no time like the present.

“Hey,” Eva greeted, leaning forward on the chair next to Ingrid.

“Hi,” Ingrid replied, in a soft voice.

“You wanted to talk the other day and I didn’t give you a chance,” she said. “We can talk now, if you’d like.”

The song started blasting through their dad’s speakers. “Eva, this rocks!” he shouted from across the house.

“You know what, it was nothing,” Ingrid told her. “You should listen to your song with dad.”

Eva suspected that it might have been about Iben, but she let it go. If Ingrid didn’t want to share, she didn’t have to.

“Are you positive?” she asked.

Ingrid smiled. “Yeah,” she answered with a nod.

Sure, Eva and Ingrid didn’t always get along. They fought over boys, girls, and attention. They were still sisters and Eva knew that they could make it better. They could be even more than sisters: they could be friends.


	5. Chapter 5

If you really think about it, Eva’s story was kind of like a fairytale. Sure, it wasn’t completed yet, but it definitely resembled that sort of story.

It goes like this:

Once upon a time, there was an indie princess who rocked a musical kingdom. And she kind of dug a different princess. The one with mysterious eyes. Things were starting to go well between them. The two of them made beautiful music.

Until the emperor of electro music and bad rap invaded.

William knocked on the window of the recording studio, interrupting Iben and Eva, who were writing a song together.

“William?” Eva asked in confusion. He didn’t work for G-Major Records. What the he was he doing here?

He said something to Dr. Skrulle, but the microphone wasn’t on, so Eva was unsure as to what he said.

“What is he doing here?” Eva asked Iben. She wasn’t a huge fan of that guy. He seemed kind of spoiled and rude.

“His cousin is coming here tomorrow,” she explained. “Christoffer Schistad.”

“ _ Chris _ ?!” Eva explained. As in  _ the  _ Chris. The one that Iben used to be engaged to. The famous rapper Chris. Every guy wanted to be him. Every girl wanted to date him, even though he didn’t do relationships. “As in C to the H to the R-I-S?”

It was his brand. He always introduced himself as that before he rapped in his songs, or even if he was featured in other songs.

Iben nodded, not seeming very happy. Despite her own excitement in meeting somebody so famous, she understood why Iben was underwhelmed. After all, he  _ had _ cheated on her.

“But this is  _ the _ Chis?” Eva asked again and Iben confirmed it with a nod. “We’re going to be sharing the studio tomorrow?”

She knew she wasn’t their only client, but still. Chris was very high profile. It was weird that he would stoop so low as to record at a small Norwegian label like G-Major.

Iben rolled her eyes. “Chris isn’t really much of a sharer. Not a studio. Not a producer. Not the girls that he cheats on eachother with.”

“What?” she gasped. It sounded like Chris was going to be stealing Iben while he was there, despite Iben’s distaste for him and their rocky past. “You’re producing for  _ him _ ?”

Iben got up and started toward the door, but Eva sprung up out of her chair and beat her to it, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her backwards. “He can’t steal you! You’re mine.”

She flinched a little when she realized how that sounded, but it was still true. They worked together, and it had always turned out well.

“Take studio C,” Iben suggested. “It should be open tomorrow. Keep working on that song and I’ll catch up with you on it later. It has a lot of potential. I promise.”

Iben walked into the other room and shook William’s hand, a smile on her face. Eva knew that it was fake, but he didn’t realize it.

This is the part of the story in which the problem is presented:

The indie princess wanted back the things that rightfully belonged to her. She wanted her castle, her royal council, and, most importantly, the other princess.

But, this wasn’t fantasy, it was reality and, sometimes, reality sucked.

* * *

Eva had never seen Christina Berg so stressed out. Her hair was a mess and there were bags under her eyes as she tried to get everything organized for the arrival of the other Chris. She was ordering people around in the most polite way that she could, trying to keep everyone happy despite the hectic nature of the day.

Walking over to where Iben and Dr. Skrulle were standing, Eva said, “It’s like an entourage minefield in here.”

“The bigger the fame; the bigger the money,” Iben reasoned. “So, yeah, everything has to be just right for Chris.”

“I was thinking about that song, by the way,” Eva added. “I think it should be acoustic. Give off more of a homey sort of vibe.”

“You should decide,” Iben advised. “I need to speak with Mari about Chris’ backup track.”

“Bye,” she replied as the older girl walked away in a hurry. She seemed to be getting more annoyed by the second.

“Christina!” Dr. Skrulle called over Eva’s head. Chris hated being called Christina, but Christoffer was the “more important Chris” in the studio for the time being. “How is all this hospitality stuff going?”

Chris smiled. “I’ve followed all of Chris’ requests, so pretty well, I hope,” she confirmed. “But why does this boy need so much random food? I even had to import all dressed potato chips from Canada.”

“I can’t believe you guys are acting as slaves for this stupid fuckboy,” Eva commented, shaking her head.

“He’s paying us a lot of good money,” Chris explained. “Money that we need to finance new artists like you.”

Dr. Skrulle tossed a stack of CDs to Eva. What year were they in where she needed physical copies? “This is his music. Please listen to them and try to think of some nice comments for when he arrives.”

“You know, I can probably just use Spotify,” Eva pointed out.

Dr. Skrulle shook her head. “Chris is one of those musicians who thinks that he’s too good for Spotify.”

Eva looked down at the CDs. “I’ll try to listen. I don’t know if I even have anything that will play these.”

There were a few desktop computers in the building, so it wouldn’t really be all that much trouble, and they both knew it.

“It’s Chris!” someone yelled and Eva turned her head.

When he walked in, he had sunglasses on and a chain around his neck. He was wearing a sweatshirt that said “The Penetrators”, which signalled that he was part of William’s squad.

A group of men walked behind him and they also were dressed like complete fuckboys. They walked like they were in slow motion, but they weren’t, so it just looked fucking stupid.

William reached him and they hugged, but in a complete “bro” way. Like they barely touched chests and patted each other’s backs.

Iben approached them, looking more pissed off than ever.

“You remember my cousin, Chris,” William said to her, pointing at him.

She rolled her eyes. “We were engaged. I think I remember, Magnusson. Tell me, Chris, are you still dating those five other girls?”

Chris smirked. “And a few more,” he added, winking at Iben, who looked less than amused.

Iben pointed to the girl behind her. She had long blond hair and long fake eyelashes, which framed her blue eyes. “Chris, this is Mari. We’ve worked together for years and she’s great with helping to find the perfect sound.”

She went in for a handshake, but Chris turned it into some sort of awkward high-five.

“Iben and I have gotten together some awesome beats and backup tracks to help you out while you’re here,” she informed him.

He stuck his hand up in the air so that they would stop speaking. “Wait,” he ordered, turning to look at Eva, who was holding her guitar. “Are you singing backup for me?” he asked.

Suddenly, Eva felt just as annoyed as Iben. This douche just waltzed into her studio and asked if she was singing backup for him. Yeah, fat chance, dude.

“No,” she replied. She would have crossed her arms if she hadn’t been holding her guitar. “I sing lead on my own music.”

“That’s a real shame,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re definitely hot enough to be one of my girls.”

She raised her eyebrows. One of  _ his  _ girls? Who the fuck did this guy think he was?

“Eva!” Iben called before she could open her mouth. “You need to go work on your album. Studio C, remember?”

“I know,” she replied, glaring at Chris for a moment before walking away to work on her music. Since she wasn’t paying attention, she ran into a stack of chairs on the way out, but caught herself before they could fall. She felt a bit embarrassed, but still more annoyed than anything.

* * *

The C in studio C must have stood for “closet” because the place was a jump. Equipment was stored everywhere, so there wasn’t going to be a ton of room for her to practice, but she would make due. She wasn’t going to let some fuckboy with too much money and time on his hands ruin her album.

She had to work alone, which was more difficult. Before the Instant Star competition, she usually had Jonas by her side to help her and now that she’d won, she had Iben. There was nobody to bounce ideas off of but herself, so she just had to play and play and decide which notes, chords, and lyrics she liked best.

Then, the bass from studio A started bumping so loud that she could barely hear herself play. Why did Chris’ music need to be so fucking loud? He was in a recording studio, for fuck’s sake. Also, why couldn’t they soundproof their fucking studios. Whoever was in studio B was probably pissed as well.

Eva started to play louder and try to sing over it, but her efforts proved fruitless. Chris was just too fucking loud.

Fuck acoustic, Eva was plugging in. It was the only way she was going to be able to hear her music over his. She cranked it up, wondering how he was going to feel getting drowned out by her sound.

He turned his volume up even more, and suddenly it was a competition to see who could be louder. She put her amp against the door so that the room wouldn’t drown out any of her sound and started playing once more.

She tried to focus on her own music, but suddenly she found herself playing with him, their beats melding together in a way that weirdly worked. Sure, he was a fucking douche, but somehow their music was blending, making a sound better than ever before.

Suddenly, Chris, music cut off and she stopped. She had won the volume contest, but it didn’t seem as satisfying as she hoped it would be. She wanted to play with him again, experiment with their combined sound.

* * *

Chris’ music was okay. She had listened to a few songs, and they were nothing special, but they weren’t awful either. She could see why he had gathered a fanbase, but didn’t understand why it was so big.

“Eva,” someone called from behind her. She took off her headphones and turned around. It was Chris himself, standing in the doorway with two bags of chips.

He held up the chips. “I thought you might be hungry after out little sound battle,” he said.

A part of her wanted to tell him to leave, but she wanted to work with his sound again. “Hey,” she greeted, gesturing toward the chair next to her.

He threw a bag of chips to her. “What even are these?” she asked. “What does all dressed even mean?”

“They’re this genius Canadian invention,” he explained. “It’s like every flavor in one.”

Eva wrinkled her nose. “That sounds fucking disgusting.”

“They aren’t,” he assured her. “They’re the best chips I’ve ever had. I just wish I had tried them before I did a concert in Toronto a few years back. I was missing out for so long.”

She cracked the bag open and sniffed them. Maybe they wouldn’t be that bad, but she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to try them in from of him.

He lifted a magazine off the table, revealing his CDs. “So I see you’re checking out the competition,” he winked.

She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“My second album sold over a million copies,” he boasted. “And not just to people in Norway.”

“I know,” Eva replied. She had been briefed on all of this earlier in the week. Her bosses were adamant that she know anything and everything about Chris’ career.

“Your first album is ten times better,” she told him.

“That’s because it’s actually my music,” he explained. “Before William, producers, and record labels started running the show for me.”

He let other people be in charge of his music? That seemed a bit ridiculous, but it probably happened a lot. “What changed that put them in charge?” she wondered.

“My cousin took over. I love him, but he can be  _ controlling _ at times,” Chris said, a frown on his face. “I’m not allowed to freestyle and he barely lets me write my own shit.”

“You let him do that?”

He leaned in closer. “William has a shit ton of money and he’s family. If you have connections to someone like that, you have to listen and learn from them.”

“Learn what?” she inquired. “How to sacrifice your own talent and personal preference for a couple of zeros on a check?”

“It’s worth it when you get millions of dollars, countless fans, and plenty of sex,” he replied, moving even closer, which she suddenly seemed to be less comfortable with. “There’s always room for another fan.”

She offered him a fake smile. “I can ask around at school. I’m sure one or two people might take you up on that.”

Chris laughed. “You’re kind of funny, which is hot. Most people can’t even talk to me, since they’re too shy.”

“Or they just don’t actually want to talk to you,” she joked. “Say hi to my producer for me,” Eva added before leaving the room.

God, that guy was a fucking asshole, but she was starting to feel bad for him. After all, he couldn’t help that the quality of his music had decreased due to his cousin.

* * *

Eva hit a few buttons on the microwave to heat up her hot pocket, which would probably be a disappointment compared to those admittedly amazing chips she ate earlier.

“Eva, right?” said an unfamiliar voice behind her.

She turned around to see a dark-skinned boy who was probably about her age wearing a blue adidas jacket. 

“My name is Mahdi,” he said, sticking out his hand. She shook it and he continued, “I’m an intern working for Chris,” he explained. “I was told to inform you that you two are having a dinner date tonight. I think it’s kind of a dick move to make me ask you, but I’m getting paid experience before uni, so whatever.”

She raised her eyebrows. Who the hell did Chris think he was? He assumed that she would want to go on a date with him, so he sent a random intern? What a fucking douche.

“He said he can pick you up at six,” Mahdi continued in a monotone voice, like he was reading a list. “Oh, and he loves red, so wear that if you want to impress him.”

Even Mahdi cringed a bit at the last part. Chris was a terrible human being and they both knew it. Mahdi walked away, leaving Eva standing by the microwave, fuming.

She abandoned her hot pocket to go find Chris. It wasn’t that difficult, seeing as he was still recording in studio A.

Dr. Skrulle saw her and begged her not to go inside, but she wasn’t in the mood for taking any orders from anyone.

Eva burst into the studio and immediately started yelling at Chris. “You had your fucking intern ask me out for you?”

William raised his eyebrows and turned to Chris. “You asked her out?”

“This is my personal life, bro,” Chris argued. “I don’t need your fucking clearance to go on a date.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Eva snapped, “because the answer is absolutely not. I don’t want to go on a date with a guy like you.”

“You’re just scared you can’t handle the big Chris,” he accused, even though she didn’t know what the fuck that was supposed to mean.

She let her eyes wander down to his crotch. “Probably not  _ that _ big,” she muttered, loud enough for him to hear.

Everyone’s jaws dropped except Iben’s. The producer was quietly chuckling to herself. Probably because she knew that Eva was right.

Eva knew that she needed to stop talking, but she couldn’t hold the words back. “I mean, why would I want to date a guy who lets his big cousin pick out his pajamas and his girls.”

Chris’ eyes widened and his expression went sour. “You want to play this game? Fine!” he exclaimed, picking a CD up off the table. “I heard your new demo. You want to know my thoughts on it?”

“What do you think?” Eva dared him.

“You sound like every other fucking indie singer on the planet,” he replied. “You say you want your music to move people, but it’s the same shit as everyone else.”

“Really?” Eva answered, now fully enraged. It was one thing picking on personality, but now he was getting ehr music involved? Game. Fucking. On. “Well at least I write my own lyrics. Does William write your shopping lists too?”

Iben stood up from her chair and put a hand in from of Eva. “Look, she didn’t mean it,” she told him. 

Why the hell was she defending a guy like him? Iben knew exactly what kind of guy that he was, more than anyone, yet she let him get away with trashing her music while she wasn’t allowed to say a thing about him.

Chris looked between the two of them for a moment. “Yes she did,” he replied, before walking out with everyone that he worked with.

William ran after him, calling his name.

Iben looked at Eva desperately. “What the fuck do you think that you’re doing? There’s a lot of money on the line, you idiot.”

* * *

It felt like Dr. Skrulle had been on the phone speaking to Chris’ agent for eternity. Eva was sitting there, squirming in her seat. Hopefully her fat mouth hadn’t just gotten her fired.

“Okay, thanks,” Dr. Skrulle said before hanging up the phone in her office. She turned to where Eva and Iben were standing.

“Chris wants an apology,” she demanded. “You’re going to do it in-person after his show tonight. It’ll be backstage, so no worries about the press. Otherwise, he’s backing out of our contract.”

“Forget it,” Eva replied. “I’m not going to apologize to a guy like him. He’s a spoiled brat that just needs to grow the fuck up.”

Iben and Dr. Skrulle both stared at Eva in disapproval. They were trying to make her feel guilty, but she had absolutely no sympathy for Christoffer Schistad.

“Eva, please,” Iben pleaded. “I hate Chris too, but I need this album for my career. Apologizing to him sucks, but just do it. For me.”

Eva sighed. She really didn’t want to apologize to him after what he said and how he treated people, but she didn’t want to hurt Iben’s career. Iben deserved the best and, if this was what was going to help her get success, then who was Eva to deny it?

“Only if I can bring Jonas,” Eva requested.

They both nodded. “You can bring whomever you’d like,” Dr. Skrulle confirmed. “So long as you apologize to him.”

She typed out a text to Jonas asking if he could come and he agreed, saying that he just had to cancel his plans to work on schoolwork with Noora.

Huh, since when did those two get along? Eva had been trying to get them to see eye to eye for years, and suddenly they were making plans together when she wasn’t even there. Maybe her music had actually been good for her friend group.

* * *

The bass was already bumping when they arrived at the venue. He hadn’t started singing or rapping yet, but even his background music sounded kind of the same from a distance.

Jonas went to the bar to get them beer, but came back with a couple of sodas. “Security is mad tight here,” he complained. “I charmed the bartender as much as I could, but she still wouldn’t send me back with any beer.”

Eva smiled. “Thanks for trying.” She would have preferred being at least a bit drunk for this, but she would do what she had to do.

“I still think it’s fucking stupid that you have to do this shit,” Jonas said, shaking his head.

“Right?!” she exclaimed, throwing up the hand that wasn’t holding her soda. “It’s like I’m being punished for speaking my mind and telling the truth.”

“It goes to show how little our society values women,” Jonas remarked. “If the situation were opposite, then he wouldn’t have had to say a thing.”

Eva knew that Noora would have said the same thing. She had never noticed how similar the two of them were until now.

She caught Chris staring at her and rolled her eyes. “What a fucking douchebag.”

“Yeah,” Jonas agreed, fist balled up at his side.

She put her hand on his shoulder. “At least I still have my best friend here. That’s what really matters.”

He smiled and agreed, then she left, venturing into the crowd as the announcer introduced Chris.

She wanted to be closer to the front, even though she fucking hated him with every fiber of her being.

“We’ll get to my music soon, but there’s something I have to say first,” he started. “I had a fight with someone special today.”

Eva’s eyes widened. He wasn’t really going to say something in front of all these people. They had agreed to talk backstage. After the show.

“She was cold to me,” he continued. “But she was honest. I want to prove to her that I’m the real deal.”

He winked at her. “This is dedicated to Miss Eva Kviig Mohn.”

A spotlight shined down on her and people in the crowd started clapping. But, Eva couldn’t move. She was stunned that he would go back on their deal, but also she should have expected it. And now he was probably going to trash her in this song. Fan-fucking-tastic.

He started rapping, and it was actually pretty good. It was more like his first album, so he had obviously written it without William’s approval. It didn’t seem to be very negative, so Eva smiled.

The words were all positive. He was complimenting her. Eva laughed a little, feeling flustered, and made eye contact with Iben, who was seething. It felt kind of nice seeing her like that. It was like payback for the whole Ingrid thing. She could be jealous all she wanted, unless she bellied-up and actually did something for a change.

She looked back to Jonas, who offered a slight smile. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, but she didn’t really notice that much. She was so focused on Chris. She hadn’t been this starstruck by anybody except Iben.

After the show, the female Chris gave her a big hug. “You’re so smart!” she exclaimed. “Hooking up with Chris will be a great way to get noticed.”

Eva furrowed her eyebrows. “I didn’t hook up with him,” she spat. “I basically called him a fuckboy poser.”

She bumped right into the man himself, who was talking into a very disgruntled Iben.

“What’d you think?” he wondered aloud. “I wrote that for you, sweetheart.”

She definitely didn’t like him calling her “sweetheart,” but the song itself was pretty fucking great. She shrugged. “I’m still a bit confused,” she confessed. “Didn’t you want me to pretend to apologize to you?”

He shook his head. “Why the fuck would I care about that?” he asked. “You told me the truth and it was kind of hot. I’m not mad.”

This guy seemingly had no fucking boundaries. No wonder William had to filter his songs.

“So,” Chris continued. “Date tonight? I know an awesome bar where we can chill together.”

Chris Berg practically pushed her into his arms. “Go and have fun. Just don’t get too drunk and, if you do, call me to pick you up, okay?”

“I thought we were going to get food after this,” Jonas pointed out. She had totally forgotten that she promised that to him, and now she kind of felt bad.

“Go home,” Iben ordered, even though she wasn’t in charge of Eva. After all, she was just a friend at most.

Still, something deep inside Eva’s heart forced her to nod and agree. “Thanks for the song,” she told Chris before she walked out of the building, heading back to her house.

Eva felt more confused than ever before.

* * *

The best part of having school the next day was that she got a chance to tell Noora everything.

“It was like the air was trapped in my lungs,” she exaggerated. “Three different people were pulling for my attention and I panicked and did what Iben said. Going home seemed like the easiest option anyway.”

“Sounds like a wild night, that’s for sure,” Noora laughed.

“Iben went into total overprotective mode,” Eva added. “Do you think that she’s jealous?”

“Iben?” Noora asked.

“Yeah,” Eva answered with a nod.

Noora shook her head. “Girl, you  _ have  _ to get over her. Chris may be a dick, but he’s good for your reputation and it seems like he likes you. Iben isn’t going to get any younger, so I don’t think anything is changing anytime soon on that front.”

“I wish it was that easy,” she sighed. “When I’m with Iben, I feel completely invincible. I can’t just move on.”

The blond girl crossed her arms. “Eva, have you even tried?”

Eva tried to think of a response, but Noora continued, in a louder voice. “Sometimes I wish people could just fucking open their eyes and see what was right in front of them. Instead of obsessing over the wrong girl-”

“I wouldn’t say the wrong girl,” Eva interrupted. “Since, Chris is a guy. The wrong girl implies that both choices are female.”

Noora’s eyes widened and she smiled, but it didn’t seem genuine. “Sorry, I meant the wrong person.”

She stared at something behind Eva for a moment, furrowing her blond brows. “Wow,” she finally said.

Eva turned to see Chris, making his way toward them and greeting all his fans in the hallway. God, who told him that he was allowed to just randomly show up at Nissen?

He had a large bouquet of flowers that were presumably for her, but she didn’t know whether or not she would accept them. It was kind of weird to see him here.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him as he pulled her into an empty classroom. Why did Nissen even have so many empty classrooms? They didn’t have a shortage or students or teachers, especially after some NRK show had been filmed there, causing applications to go up about 200%.

He handed her the flowers. “I’m here for you, hot stuff.”

“You just don’t give up,” she remarked. “Do you?”

He chuckled in response before looking at the board, which was covered with math equations. He pointed to a blank one.

“Do you know the answer to this?” he inquired.

Eva shook her head. “I’m awful at math,” she explained. “I’m still only in algebra. Why? Do you?”

Chris laughed. “God, no. I flunked out of vgs. Music was always my thing, so school never really mattered.”

Jonas’ friend Magnus peered in the window and saw them. He jumped up and down, shouting “C to the H to the R-I-S!”

Chris offered an awkward wave and the boy left, grinning from ear to ear. Some fans were too easy to please.

“You’re nice you your fans,” she commented.

“Of course I am,” he replied in a softer voice, walking closer to her. Too close. “Why do you think that I’m so nice to you?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. She was feeling flustered and she didn’t quite know what to say. Nobody sober had ever been so forward about their interest in her in the past.

He gazed into her eyes. “So, how about that date?” Chris asked. “We can go see  _ The Greatest Showman _ or something.”

Eva looked him up and down for a moment. Noora was right. This thing with Iben was never going to happen. “Sounds good,” Eva confirmed.

Christoffer Schistad went all out. He hadn’t just bought them two tickets, he had bought all of the tickets so that they could be alone in the theater. She couldn’t tell if he was trying to be romantic, or if he was just trying to show off his money. Either way, they weren’t going to have to worry about babies crying or people who didn’t shower.

Eva still shook her head, grinning. “I can’t believe that you bought every ticket for this.”

He shrugged. “It’s the best way to watch a movie.”

Chris opened a bag of chips and popped one in his mouth. They were those Canadian chips again. Usually, you couldn’t bring outside food into the movies, but she supposed they made exceptions for people who paid so much.

“That’s your second bag,” she pointed out.

“They’re good,” he protested with his mouth full. “William may be able to control my career and my music, but he has no say over what I eat.”

She bit her lip. “It’s kind of cute,” she admitted. “How you take advantage of the little freedoms in your life.”

He put his arm around her, and she was unsure as to how she felt about it. Did she want this? With somebody like him?

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “But I can’t believe this is happening. Chris Schistad likes me? Like what the fuck?”

He chuckled. 

“You do like me right?” Eva asked, suddenly feeling insecure.

Chris moved closer to her, leaning in so that he was just inches from her face. “Eva, you make me want to be a better person,” he confessed. 

He moved in toward her and their lips were less than a few centimeters away when her phone beeped repeatedly, snapping her out of her haze. Eva wasn’t able to tell if she was relieved or not.

“Sorry,” she whispered, even though they were alone in the movie theater. In hindsight, she should have turned her phone off, just like the previews had warned.

It was a series of texts from Iben, telling her that they needed to work on her song. Eva turned to Chris. “I have to go,” she informed him. “It’s Iben.”

“And here I was worrying about William calling,” Chris replied, shaking his head. 

Work was work, and Chris needed to realize that. Sometimes she had to go do her job so that she could make her own money.

* * *

“Okay,” Iben said, putting Eva’s CD into the complicated studio speaker system, but leaving it open. “I’ll let you do the honor of closing it so that it plays.”

Eva pushed it in with a smile on her face. She was excited to hear her demo. If it was bad, they could fix it, but if it was good, they only needed minor tweaks.

She and Iben leaned back in their chairs, taking everything in. Eva tried to let her personal struggles go and focus on the music. Work was important. Not stupid teenage relationship drama.

“Be honest,” she requested of Iben.

Iben sighed. “I think I was holding you back. This is amazing.”

“It’s missing something still,” Eva replied, shaking her head. “Any ideas as to what?”

Iben reached over Eva and paused it. They were awfully close now. Anyone who walked in might suspect that something was happening between them, even though that wasn’t the case.

“You and Chris, huh?” Iben asked softly. “You were on a date?”

Eva rolled her eyes. “We were just hanging out,” she lied.

“I don’t think it’s a very good idea, Eva,” Iben told her. “Trust me. I know him better than anyone.”

“He’s just a person,” she pointed out.

“A person that you can’t trust,” Iben added. “He’s going to break you, Eva. And guess who’s going to have to help pick up the pieces when he inevitably screws around on you.”

Eva crossed her arms. “I came here to work on my music. Stay out of my personal life, Iben.”

“You don’t get it,” she replied. “He says the same fucking thing to everyone he wants to bone. He won’t even remember your name in a week. I’m the one who will still be here for you.”

She shook her head, trying to hold back the tears. “You’re wrong,” she snapped. “And it was a date.”

Iben was a fucking liar. She said all this crap about being there for her, but she was the one who kept breaking her heart. It was time for Eva to move on.

* * *

“Something happened to Chris,” Eva overheard William tell Iben and Dr. Skrulle. “He wants to leave.”

He wanted to leave? Had the phone call really screwed up Eva’s only chance at him? She quickly found Chris and walked over to him.

“You’re leaving,” she said quietly. It wasn’t really much of a question, but there was still the implied “why” in there. As in, why are you playing with my heart?

“That sucks,” Eva muttered. “And that’s coming from me.”

Chris shrugged. “What am I supposed to do? The single is done and you’re somehow immune to my good looks and amazing wit.”

Eva chuckled. “Oh, really?”

He was smiling too now.

“I probably owe you an apology for yesterday,” Eva admitted. “However, I’m going to give you something else instead.”

She handed him a few pages of sheet music. “It’s my song,” she explained. “It’s far better with your sound mixed in. Maybe we could record it together?”

He shouted for one of the employees to put back something that they were to be hauling back to Chris’ truck.

“William!” Chris shouted. The tall man looked over. “I want Iben to produce my entire album.”

He nodded and said a few words to Dr. Skrulle. It seemed like everything was looking up. Chris was staying and he was going to be recording with Eva. They would be able to go on more dates together and, more importantly, make even more beautiful music.


	6. Chapter 6

Their overly peppy dance instructor was going fast and Eva could barely keep up with him. Who the fuck got this excited about jazz squares? And why did they need to learn jazz squares for their music video?

Chris was an awesome dancer, but she supposed that he had more experience than her, seeing as he had made countless music videos before. Eva, however; she just wasn’t able to do those moves at the speed requested by the choreographer.

“How are you so good at this?” she asked Chris, as he spun her around, which almost made her fall.

“While you were plucking around on your guitar, I mastered all dancing styles,” he explained. “There’s no point in even trying to keep up with someone as talented as me.”

He pulled her in so their noses were practically touching. “You love my moves,” he said. “Just admit it.”

She rolled her eyes. “You wish.”

Eva stepped on his foot and he didn’t make a sound. He had yelped the first few times she did it, but he had gotten used to it and he rarely called her out on it.

Chris was probably a good boyfriend. He was decently nice to her and he thought she was cute, so that  _ had _ to be a good thing. She wasn’t completely sure that they were dating just yet. After all, they barely had time to hang out when they had to work so much.

“I feel like we’re never together outside rehearsals anymore,” she told him as they moved across the room.

He dipped her. “When are we going to be able to hang out?” she asked.

Maybe dating was a bit like dancing. There had to be trust in order for it to work out. Additionally, Eva knew next to nothing about either of those things. And who the hell was supposed to be leading?

She was leaning back in his arms when he looked past her and let go, causing her to go sprawling onto the floor. She saw that William was in the window behind her. She looked to Chris, but he didn’t seem to care about her falling at all. Maybe he had even dropped her on purpose.

Whether it was dancing or dating, Eva had one thing for certain: she needed some help.

* * *

For the first time since Eva started working at G-Major records, the conference room was completely full. Between the people working with Eva and the people working with Chris, there were more than enough butts to fill all of the chairs.

“We are going to rethink the concept for dancing in the music video,” Dr. Skrulle announced once everyone was seated.

“Thanks,” Eva said with a smile. She was having difficulties and she was glad that her boss was willing to work around them for the time being. “I would need more time if we were going to go with that route.”

“They concept was weak,” William added. “It was too soft for Chris’ image. Me and my people have put together a better one.”

Iben shook her head and Dr. Skrulle seemed annoyed. “Thank you William,” Dr. Skrulle began, “but this song is part of Eva’s album. It is our money, our video, and our concept. It doesn’t belong to you or Chris.”

“That’s fine,” William gritted out.

One of Dr. Skrulle’s assistants threw a few pieces of paper on the table. “Here’s an entirely new idea,” he said. “Eva’s car breaks down and Chris is in charge of fixing it. He steals her heart.”

Dr. Skrulle smiled and held up one last piece of paper. “It all ends with a kiss that will make everyone swoon. Even someone as cold-hearted as William.”

The man in question rolled his eyes. His phone started ringing and he answered it, walking out in the middle of their meeting.

“We all have a lot of work to do, but this is going to work out great,” Dr. Skrulle assured them. “Let’s all get to work.”

Everybody got up to exit the room, leaving Eva and Chris alone.

“Our first kiss is going to be on video,” Eva commented. “Go figure, huh?”

“Can you handle it?” Chris asked her. “A hot kiss from  _ the _ Christoffer Schistad.”

“Shut up,” she replied, lightly punching him in the arm. It was just a kiss. It wasn’t  _ that _ big of a deal. The real problem is that their first kiss was going to be fore work, so was it real?

He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. Maybe they could get the kiss over with sooner. 

“See you tomorrow,” Eva said softly.

“How about a kiss goodbye?” Chris asked, moving in.

“Chris,” William called from the doorway. Chris immediately stood up and walked out the door with him,

Eva understood that Chris prioritized family, a lot of people put their families first. But not usually like this. William wasn’t in charge of Chris’ entire life, so why did Chris act like his fucking lapdog?

* * *

“So are you going to just kiss his lips or will there be tongue involved?” Noora asked as she scribbled some notes down into her notebook.

“I don’t know!” Eva exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air. “It’s going to be in front of a video camera and a shit ton of strangers. What’s the procedure for that kind of kiss?”

“And it’s not like you’ve kissed very many people before,” she pointed out. “Like who have you kissed. Vilde?”

“Right? Like I don’t know how to do this relationship shit,” Eva laughed, petting Julian, who was laying on the grass by her side. “I’ve only kissed three people and none of them counted. Like whenever me and Vilde made out, we were both wasted. Too drunk to count. That lifeguard at the beach.”

“CPR doesn’t count as a kiss, Eva. Even if you were faking unconscious,” Noora joked.

“And, well, then there’s that time I kissed Jonas a few years ago,” Eva added. “But we were a little tipsy and neither of us had done it before.”

She shuddered at the memory. She was bored and that’s part of the reason she kissed him. It was short and nothing like the kisses she had seen in movies. Well, at least it had shut him up.

“Yeah that definitely didn’t count,” she told Noora, who was looking at her funny. Had she not told Noora about kissing Jonas? It was over a year before she met her, so maybe not. Either way, it meant nothing.

“Wait,” Noora said, pointing at her and grinning mischievously. “What about the  _ other _ kiss?”

Eva’s eyes widened. “You mean the one with Iben?!” she exclaimed. “That wasn’t even a kiss, just a stupid decision and a fucking embarrassment.”

“Well, look at it this way,” Noora said. “You’re super lucky now. You’re dating a hot rich guy, and you seem to be enjoying yourself more than ever.”

“I know,” she replied, smiling to herself,

Noora did a little dance. “C to the H to the R-I-S.”

“So many people would kill to have what you have with him,” she continued. “You finally got him to stop sleeping around and actually be with someone.”

“I don’t even know what we have, though,” Eva protested. “Sure, he isn’t with other people, but he goes from being totally into me to cold and distant in less than a second. I just don’t  get it.”

“Welcome to  the dating world,” Noora said, rolling her eyes. What did Noora know about dating? She hadn’t been with anyone since before she left Madrid.

Eva let it go. If something was up, then Noora would tell her about it eventually. After all, that’s what friends were for.

* * *

The set was arranged in a manner that was extremely beautiful for what limited resources that they had. Eva and Chris were mouthing the words over a recorder track as the camera filmed them. Her dad was there too, taking photos of the making of her first music video. It was weird, considering that he was about to witness her first real kiss, but he seemed chill about it.

“Cut!” the music video’s director shouted. “Good work. Back to the beginning.”

“Can we talk for a moment, Chris?” Eva asked as the two of them got their makeup fixed.

“Yeah, what’s up?” he replied, not moving from where he was standing.

She was about to suggest going elsewhere when her dad came up to her and wrapped her in his arms. “You are amazing, sweetie!” he exclaimed. “The camera loves you. I really think that you have a chance of becoming an actress if you ever wanted to.”

“Thank you, Pappa,” she said, “but I really need to speak with Chris soon.”

Her dad turned to look at him then looked back to Eva. “I’m sorry,” he said with a wink before leaving.

“Hey-” she started.

“Back to your places please,” the director requested. Were they ever going to have a chance to talk?

The director pulled her aside and briefly coached her on different facial expressions. It was annoying, but necessary, seeing as she had absolutely no acting experience.

She saw William and Iben talking, glancing at her every few seconds. They had to be speaking about her, but she had no idea why.

It was time for another take, she and Chris took their positions and the director gave his signal, allowing them to begin.

It was a pretty good take, not that different from the prior ones, but definitely better. They finally made it to the kiss scene and their lips were about to touch when the director stopped them once more.

Maybe Eva was just imagining it, but it was beginning to feel like they weren’t meant to kiss at all.

* * *

This take sucked ass. It was tense and it felt like they were talking over each other somehow, even though they were just lip synching. Something was up, and Eva could feel it in the air. Maybe because everyone watching them looked bored. After all, they had been at it for a long time

Right before the big kiss scene, the power went out. Okay, this had  to be fate or something preventing Eva from getting a real kiss.

“Did someone trip on the cord or like blow a fuse?” Eva asked, looking around the room to try to figure out what was going on.

Chris strutted in with a smile on her face. “Everyone did a fantastic job today. Thank you!” she said.

“What happened?” Eva asked. There was no way that they had finished filming, seeing as she and Chris never got a chance to kiss. Perhaps they were going to continue the following day.

Chris went over to Dr. Skrulle and they whispered back and forth, but Eva had no idea what they were saying. William looked annoyed but strangely pleased at the same time. He said something about them being broke, but Eva couldn’t catch the entire sentence.

He said something to Dr. Skrulle and she seemed to be conflicted. Iben looked pissed as she crossed her arms and told them something.

She finally turned to William and told him something. Iben knocked over a chair as she stormed out of the room.

Suddenly, William had total control over the video, which meant that anything could happen.

Eva pulled Chris aside so that they could finally talk. “So, do you maybe want to grab dinner together tonight?” she inquired.

Chris grinned. “I’ll pick you up at 19:00. Wear something sexy, baby.”

“Great, 19:00 is perfect,” Eva replied, ignoring the other half of his answer.

He chuckled. “Alright?”

“See you then,” she said. They were going on a date, so maybe they were supposed to be together after all.

* * *

The restaurant was a fancy Italian place, with soft white tablecloths and water served in wine glasses. Most people there were wearing dresses and suits, but Chris and Eva were dressed fairly casually. She supposed that it was a perk that came with fame.

“This is nice,” Eva commented after they had finished ordering. “We haven’t had any real dates since the movie theater, and that was far from normal.”

Chris sighed. “Eva, I think we need to talk about something.”

_ Finally.  _ “I completely agree,” she replied. “I’m not sure that I’ll be ready for this big kissing scene until I know how you really feel about our relationship.”

“We don’t  _ have _ a relationship,” he responded.

Eva moved back into her seat. What a fucking dick! He agreed to go on another date with her and suddenly they aren’t together. What the actual fuck!

“Things were going well, Christoffer,” she protested. “What happened to change your mind?”

He took a sip of his water and shrugged. “I guess that I just lost interest,” he explained.

“Did I do something wrong?” she wondered. He seemed plenty interested before, but all of a sudden things were different. It sounded like absolute bullshit.

“I fucking hate drama,” Chris gritted out. “Can we just skip this shit?”

She held her hands up in surrender. “Chris, I just want to know what I did wrong.”

“Read my lips,” he ordered. “I. Am. Not. Interested. I don’t want to be your fucking boyfriend. I thought you knew that going into this. Nobody can tie Christoffer Schistad down.”

Tears had begun to fall down her face. Eva wiped her eyes and ran out of the restaurant, almost causing a waiter to topple to the ground.

Eva was sick of letting her heart get played with, but it seemed that nobody really cared, so what else could she do.

* * *

Walking onto the set the next day was difficult, but at least she had her dad by her side. This place was nicer and it was set up like a car wash. It was a similar idea, but not quite the same.

It definitely had a higher budget, but that came with its own flaws. It seemed like it was going to fall into the archetype of every other music video in the history of man.

“I have to get to work,” her dad said in an apologetic tone. “Will you be okay without me?”

“It’s fine,” she said ina perky voice. It was a lie. It wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine.

He hugged her before leaving. She turned toward the set and took a deep breath. It was going to be one hell of a rough day.

Chris handed her a dry cleaning bag with an outfit in it. “Here is your costume for the video,” she informed her.

It wasn’t really her style, but she knew it was William’s call. She was just doing her job. It was nice to have at least one Chris on her side.

During the new takes of the video, there were scantily clad ladies and bubbles everywhere. Eva didn’t mind the girls so much. They were pretty. However, it was a bit slippery and everything seemed a bit over the top and ridiculous.

Near the end of the video, before the dreaded kiss, Chris and Eva had to get super close. She felt his hands drift down to her ass and gently squeeze. Oh god, she wanted to throw up.

She froze and Iben jumped out of her seat. “Whoah,” the older girl practically shouted. “Move your fucking hands.”

“This isn’t the 1950’s,” William told Iben before turned back to them. “Your hands are fine, Chris.”

“No,” Eva replied, crossing her arms. “This is not okay. I didn’t give him permission to put them on my ass, and I do not want them there.”

William got up out of his seat and walked up to them, getting right in her face.

“Look, Eva,” he said quietly. “This is my video now, not yours.”

“But it’s  _ my _ body,” she snapped. “He can’t touch me where I don’t want to be touched. Especially if it’s my butt. His hands can stay above my hips.”

She looked to Iben, who was smiling at her. Eva was proud of standing up to him. It also felt pretty good making Iben smile, since it was a fairly rare sight.

As she waited for the next take, Eva sat on a stool, playing with her skirt, which was far too short for her liking. She’d prefer a pair of jeans or some leggings any day.

“Looks like they’re setting up for your kiss,” Iben announced as she sat on the crate in front of her. “We can talk about it if you want.”

“Not with you, that’s for sure,” she snapped. Iben would just make her even more confused than she already was.

“I’m all that you’ve got right now,” Iben pointed out as she brushed a strand of Eva’s hair behind her ear.

“How do you kiss someone who recently dumped you?” Eva asked. “I’m not sure that I’ll be able to handle it.”

“You can handle anything,” she encouraged. “You stood up to William, which proves how brave you are.”

“But this is my first real kiss,” Eva confessed. Hopefully she wouldn’t be upset that she didn’t consider their kiss to be real, but she suspected that the feeling was mutual.

“This isn’t a real kiss. This is work,” Iben said. “When you have your first real kiss, you’ll know it. You’ll feel it in your heart.”

She looked to the side and saw that Chris’ eyes were on her. It seemed interesting that he said he wasn’t interested, yet here he was, staring at her when he thought she wasn’t paying any attention.

“If you don’t feel something real when you kiss Chris,” Iben continued. “Then the kiss definitely doesn’t count.”

“Thanks,” Eva said honestly. She was still confused, but Iben’s words had helped her to calm down.

* * *

 

Eva was sipping her coffee and waiting for what would hopefully be the final take when William walked into the room.

“I heard about what happened last night,” he said. Of course Chris had told him already. What a massive douche. “Chris should have handled it better than that, but he’s never been good with professionalism.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. You can’t help that he’s your cousin.”

William chucked.”I guess you’re right,” he agreed. “I didn’t mean for it to happen the night before the kiss scene, though. That was kind of harsh.”

Her eyes widened. William must have been the one who told Chris to break up with her. She shouldn’t be surprised. He always came off as a massive douchebag.

“You told him to back off of me?!” she exclaimed.

“I’ve been telling him to since the beginning,” William replied, shrugging nonchalantly. “He’s built up an image, and a girlfriend could bring it all crashing down.”

“Right,” she nodded. This was all William’s fault. Chris didn’t want to break up with her. He probably still liked her.

“Eva,” William said, grabbing her arm. She jerked it out of his grasp. “He has to look like he’s living the dream. You aren’t part of that. Alright?”

She hummed in agreement, but she didn’t mean it. She was going to speak with Chris. They might be able to get things worked out. If he liked her, then she could be part of his dream, regardless of what William told him.

* * *

 

Having Eva hold the hose during the shoot was a fatal move on the part of the director. On the very next take, they finally got to the kiss part, but instead of smacking one on his lips, she sprayed the hose water all over Chris’ white tracksuit.

The music kept playing until Chris yelled for them to cut. He was soaking from head to toe and he fucking deserved it.

He stared at Eva, but she strutted off the set before he could get a single word in.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled as he followed her through the building.

“What about you?” she asked. “You broke up with me because your big cousin told you to. You’re a grown man, Christoffer.”

“It was his career advice,” Chris protested, throwing his hands up into the air. “He’s a lot more successful than both of us. William is my mentor and I need to learn shit from him.”

“Am I just a bad career move to you, then?” she started. “Because I thought this was about more than just working together.”

He was silent for a moment, pondering something. His head snapped up to look at her. “Stop fucking confusing me!”

“How about you stop letting him run your entire fucking life!” she shouted. “You’re more talented than you think. Stop depending on that worthless piece of shit!”

“And you can either fight for me, or I’m gone,” she challenged. Now he had to make a decision. Now it was more personal.

He looked down to his feet in a manner that seemed to be regretful.

“Let’s just get this kiss over with,” Eva suggested. “Since it’s my first real kiss.”

He looked up to her with wide eyes. “Are you serious?” he wondered.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I was stupid enough to think that I should wait for the right person to do it. Now I don’t have a choice.”

“I really wanted it to mean something,” she said wistfully. “And I wanted it to be with you.”

Chris’s head snapped up to look at her again.

Iben walked into the doorframe. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said softly. “We need you two back on the set.”

“Tell William that he can wait for five fucking minutes,” Chris ordered. “Come here.”

Chris gripped Eva by the wrist and yanked her into the nearby storage closet.

“Don’t talk to Iben like-” Eva started.

Chris cut her off with a kiss. It felt okay, but maybe kissing was overrated. Sure, it was kind of hot, but there weren’t really any sparks. Maybe this was as real as it ever got.

“What was that?” she gasped softly.

“Our first real kiss together,” he replied.

She stared at him lustfully for a moment. He was so hot. Even if there weren’t sparks, there was definitely attraction.

“I’m sorry about everything,” he apologized.

“I forgive you,” Eva told him.

“So I get a second chance?”

She nodded slowly. “Of course you do.”

Eva had gotten her first real kiss and it was with Chris, who actually liked her for her. He thought she was hot. She thought he was hot. It was perfect.


	7. Chapter 7

Chris came to all of Eva’s studio sessions. It was super motivating to have someone who cared about her by her side when she was recording, sitting in her part of the studio and enjoying her voice.

Her life kind of felt like an awesome puzzle. She had to fit everything together: home, her music, school, Iben, and now, Christoffer Schistad.

He wrote something down on a clipboard and he held it up for her to see. It was I big number ten and it was circled three times. It was cute, which made her giggle a little.

She turned back to focus on her music and saw Iben, who shook her head, seeming annoyed. Eva chalked it up to jealousy. Iben couldn’t handle that Eva was dating her ex.

There were a lot of pieces that Eva had to try to keep together, but she was living her dream and there was no way that she would trade any of it for the world.

It would have been easier if they fit together more nicely, but she could deal with issues if it meant her life could remain the same.

Chris and Mahdi started arguing behind her about some sort of work related issue and Chris shut Mahdi down when he suggested that they talk outside the studio.

Iben burst in angrily. “Cut this shit out,” she ordered them. “You’re ruining a good take.”

Chris laughed. “Chill, girl,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, which she shoved off. “That was like her fifth good take. No need to stress.”

“It’s okay,” Eva piped in, attempting to relieve the tension. “I can sing it again. It’s not a big deal.”

“My girl here has been rocking the mic since we got here,” Chris argued. “The song is finished, little miss perfect. We’ve got places to be.”

“I’m her producer,” Iben pointed out. “The song is finished when I say so, asshole.”

She shoved him and Mahdi stood by and watched it happen, smirking a little.

“Can you give me a second with Iben?” Eva requested. It would be easier to get her to listen than it would be for Chris.

Chris stormed out. Mahdi walked behind him, seeming kind of bored. Maybe one day she could employ him instead, seeing as it felt like he didn’t want to be an intern for Chris.

“What the fuck is up between you and Chris lately?” Eva nearly shouted at Iben.

“I’m worried about you, Eva,” Iben replied. This wasn’t a very good way of expressing her worry. “I warned you about him and now he’s making you lose focus on what’s really important: your music.”

“I sang the song every fucking way you wanted, Iben,” she protested. “If you don’t like it, then you must be the problem.”

Chris walked over to her. “You ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Eva replied with a smile, walking off with him. 

Iben was just jealous and she knew it, but which of them was she jealous of? Did she want Eva, or did she want Chris back? Maybe she just wanted a relationship in general. She seemed kind of lonely sometimes.

* * *

“He got you into a dance club!” Noora exclaimed as they leaned against their lockers. It had been a while since they had a chance to talk like this, seeing as Eva was busy with Chris and Noora was busy with… something.

“It’s crazy, huh?” Eva replied. “But he sneaks me drinks and he’s been teaching me how to dance, so it’s pretty cool. You should check us out some time. We aren’t bad.”

“Well, I haven’t even really met Chris, so that would be kind of difficult,” the blond girl said, shoving Eva playfully. 

“I know and I’m sorry,” she admitted apologetically. “We definitely need to hang out more than we do.”

Noora’s gaze drifted away from her, toward where Jonas was standing, grabbing his books out of his locker. It seemed like she and Jonas were close now, which was nice, but Eva just hoped that she wouldn’t get replaced as their best friends, as selfish as that might sound.

“What about the spring dance,” Noora suggested, her eyes still trained on Jonas. 

“You want me to bring Chris to a dance at Nissen?” she asked incredulously. “I thought we all decided that it was lame and we weren’t going anyway.”

“I know he’s used to coked up music parties, not a sober party at Nissen, but he should get a taste of your life too, Eva,” she protested.

“Okay,” Eva surrendered. “I’ll invite him, then. Jonas is gonna be pissed that we’re giving in to this bourgeois bullshit.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine with it in the end,” Noora assured her. “I can convince him if you want.”

Noora could convince him? Fat chance. Jonas was stubborn when it came to things that he thought were the bane of modern western culture, and that definitely included school dances. If he showed up to the dance, Eva would have to worship Noora forever for getting that boy to chill for even a moment.

* * *

When Eva walked out of the house, she immediately saw Chris laying on the hood of his car, drinking a beer. Mahdi sat next to him, plucking away at his phone and looking bored. Hopefully Mahdi would be driving, since Eva had no idea how much alcohol Chris could have in his system.

“Hey,” Chris greeted as she approached, sitting up on the hood.

“Hey,” Eva repeated with a smile.

“Why do you even bother with school?” Chris wondered. “Just drop out or get a private tutor or something. After all, you already have a job. You’re wasting your time with it.”

“My parents think I should graduate,” she explained with a shrug. “And I have friends there anyways. I can’t just leave them behind.”

“Well, it’s nice to see you,” he said, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” she told him shyly. Hopefully he wouldn’t take offense to the idea of being seen at a fucking school dance.

“Wait,” he ordered. “First check out my new song.” Chris motioned to Mahdi, who turned the car radio up. “The bass is killer!”

The bass was pretty good, but the lyrics were kind of stupid. She didn’t have the heart to tell him. Especially because he would be pissed at her if she did.

He danced to his own song for a while, until he noticed that Eva was quiet. “You don’t like it?” he asked, already sounding pissy. “Be honest with me.”

“The beat is great,” she replied.

“Just the-” he started.

“Chris, can you come to my school dance tonight?” Eva asked, her hands shaking.

Chris raised his eyebrows at the request. Madhi chuckled a little. “Chris? At a school dance? He’d cause a scandal.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Chris asked, ignoring Mahdi’s comment.

She pointed to her house. “My parents also would like you to come over for dinner,” she added.

“What are they cooking? If Chris doesn’t want to come then I can take his place,” Mahdi joked.

Chris turned around and glared at him. “It’s not for you, Mahdi. Start the fucking car.”

“Look, I know you’d rather go clubbing. I would to,” she admitted. “But this is about my friends and family. Being a student is part of who I am right now.”

He sighed. “I know. I like who you are,” he said, running his fingers through her hair.

Eva smiled. “So you’ll come?”

“Could be interesting,” Chris shrugged. “I’ve always wondered how poor people live.”

She decided to push the comment about her being poor to the side, even though it wasn’t true. “Awesome,” she smiled. 

* * *

Anne Marit sprinted down the stairs as soon as the doorbell rang. She was so excited to meet Chris, even though he made the kind of music that ‘made her ears bleed.’

Ingrid was close behind, as she hadn’t met him either. Though, Eva suspected that she probably just wanted to steal him from her, just like she had stolen Iben.

Eva grabbed her mom’s arm before she could reach the door. “Calm down,” she ordered. “It’s going to be fine. Chris is just some guy who happens to be hot, rich, and famous.”

She turned around and pulled at her hair. “Okay, now I’m just making myself nervous.”

Her mom opened the door and invited him in. Chris was wearing a nice suit and holding a bouquet of pink flowers. “Are you Eva’s older sister?” he asked her mom with a wink.

Anne Marit chuckled awkwardly. “You must be Chris, she said. “Eva did mention that you were  _ charming _ .”

Eva reached forward and took the flowers from him. “This is my mom and this is my sister, Ingrid,” she introduced.

Chris held up a gift bag and pulled out a bottle of wine. “I hope you ladies are up for some Cabernet,” he said to Anne Marit and Ingrid.

“This is very generous,” her mother said, taking the bag from Chris.

Ingrid grinned. “Now I’m excited for dinner.”

The others walked into the dining room and Eva was about to follow when she heard yet another knock on the door. She walked over and opened it, wondering who it could be. Standing there, in the doorway was Iben. What the fuck did she think she was doing here?!

Eva started to pull the door shut, but Iben stuck her hand up and stopped it. “Don’t slam the door,” she ordered. “You and I need to speak with one another.”

She moved outside and shut the door behind her, so that Chris and her family wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. “Iben,” she started. “Now isn’t really a very good time.”

Iben held up a flashdrive. “This is the song that we were recording earlier,” she explained. “As much as I hate to admit it, Chris was right. It’s fucking outstanding. Can we get back to work now?”

“Yes,” Eva agreed. “I’d love to. Look, I know you and Chris have history, and that it’s full of unresolved issues. It’s different for me, though. You don’t know him like I do.”

“I-” she started, but then the door opened.

“Iben,” Ingrid chirped. “What are you doing here?” She turned and popped her head back into the house. “Mamma, Iben is here. Can you set another place at the table?”

“Come on,” she said pulling a reluctant Iben inside. Iben didn’t want to eat dinner with their family, Eva could tell that much, but now she had no choice, and it was all thanks to Ingrid.

The meal was awkward. Eva kept her focus on her pasta while a weird silence hung over the room.

“This is good stuff,” Chris said, giving Eva’s dad a thumbs up.

“Thanks, Chris,” he said quietly.

Ingrid pointed across the table. “Somebody pass the pasta,” she ordered. Iben handed it to her. “I absolutely love linguini with mussels.”

Then she said something in Italian to Iben. Who stared at her, eyes wide. Whatever Ingrid had said was probably scandalous, but nobody understood it but the producer.

“What did Ingrid just tell you, Iben?” Anne Marit wondered, but she didn’t seem as suspicious as Eva was.

“She said she enjoys mussels,” Iben lied. Ingrid nodded enthusiastically. “A lot.”

“How’s Chris’ next album going, Iben?” asked Eva’s dad. “Eva told me that it’s almost finished.”

“I’d say it’s uhh..  _ complex _ ,” Iben said, which was a very intriguing answer. Did she not like the album that she had worked to produce? “It isn’t exactly what it  _ seems _ is what I guess I’m trying to say.”

Chris shook his head. It was an obvious play to make Eva and him feel bad about their relationship, which was perfectly acceptable in the eyes of Iben.

“Pappa, how’s the wine that Chris brought?” Eva inquired in an attempt to change the subject.

“Delicious,” he replied. “Too bad that you can’t drink it yet, Eva. Just a little longer and you’ll be one of the adults.”

“Iben’s been able to drink for years. I keep forgetting how old she is,” Chris commented. “That’s what’s funny about the music business. Women pass their prime so quickly.”

“So Chris,” Ingrid said, changing the topic. “What’s the next big thing for you, now that your album is nearly finished?”

Iben raised her glass of wine. “How about a three month world tour,” she said.

Chris went pale. Was he leaving without telling her? Eva laughed nervously. “There’s no world tour.” Iben raised her eyebrows. Eva turned toward her boyfriend. “Is there a world tour?”

He shrugged. “We’re still finalizing the details.”

Why had he kept something like this a secret? Maybe he was planning on dumping her. Though, a little distance wouldn’t necessarily be  _ lethal _ to their relationship.

Eva turned toward her producer. “Iben, can we speak in the kitchen together for a moment?”

“What the hell is your problem?” Eva asked as soon as they got out of the dining room.

“He’s the one lying to you. Don’t try to turn me into the bad guy,” she snapped.

“He was waiting for a good time to tell me!” Eva protested. She didn’t know for sure as to whether that were true, but she wanted to give her boyfriend the benefit of the doubt.

Iben got in her face. “He wasn’t going to tell you,” she argued. “When I was on tour, I was with someone different in every city. That’s just how superstars live at the height of their youth, well and their ego.”

“You’re wrong, Iben. That’s the life of a super-asshole,” Eva replied. “You’re jealous that Chris has the career of your dreams and you’re jealous because he’s your ex.”

“I’m just trying to watch out for you,” Iben said, shaking her head.

The doorbell rang.

“I don’t need it,” Eva said before strutting toward the door to answer it. 

“I have to go to a dance now, with my boyfriend,” she added before leaving the room. 

“Sure, he may be your boyfriend, Eva. But you aren’t his girlfriend. Just ask him what the number one rule of the road is. He’ll tell you.”

Eva was heartbroken and nothing had happened yet. Surely, Chris wouldn’t just leave her. They had to be stronger than that.

* * *

 

Jonas, Noora, Eva, Chris, and a very reluctant Mahdi strutted into the school like they owned it. They were dressed up in new suits and dresses. Chris’ was probably more of a tuxedo, which was a bit formal for this dance, but he had the money, so why not.

Mahdi was with them too for some reason. Eva suspected that William had forced him to as ‘part of the internship.’ He was probably just there as a babysitter, but he didn’t get much of a choice in the matter. Luckily, he seemed to hit it off with Jonas. The two of them were joking around the entire drive to Nissen. It was nice the see Mahdi actually smile for once because he actually had an amazing grin that wasn’t usually very apparent when he was working.

When people saw Chris enter the gym with her, they turned around and screamed. Sure, it was a little bit exciting, but it couldn’t have been  _ that _ thrilling. After all, most everyone had to know that they were dating by now.

The fans swarmed him, trying to get his autograph, and suddenly Eva was all alone. Where were her fans?

A boy with black hair and dark brown eyes walked over to her. “Hi, I’m Mutta,” he introduced. “I saw you on the cover of Solid Magazine, so I looked up your music and, wow, you’re super talented.”

“Thanks, Mutta,” she replied, signing his notebook for him. A few other fans had lined up behind him. At least she was starting to get some recognition. Although, it was from her peers, so maybe that made it different.

She looked over with Chris and made eye contact. Hopefully they would be done with autographs soon so that they could actually dance with one another.

When they finally had the chance to dance, nobody else was dancing with them. They were all intent on watching them instead. Normally, Eva wouldn’t mind too much, but she hadn’t come to her school dance to perform for people. She had come to have fun with her friends and her boyfriend.

At least she knew that they were rocking it. She had come a long way since her dance lessons, due to all the clubbing that she did with Chris. She knew she had moves and now her classmates knew it too.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jonas leaving the room and Noora chasing after him. It wasn’t all that surprising. This wasn’t his scene, but he had given it a chance Eva. Now it was time for him to go.

She was surprised, however, when he reappeared on the dance floor with Noora and they started dancing with one another. Noora was a really awkward dancer and he didn’t do much more than bob his head, but they were still dancing. Was there something going on between them that Eva didn’t know about?

Chris handed something the the DJ and whispered with him briefly. Eva silently wondered what he was up to, but realized it upon hearing the opening notes. Chris had given him a copy of her unreleased single to play at the dance. Sure, it was unprofessional and the song could get leaked, but it was also kind of a cute gesture.

It was a slower song, so they danced with Eva’s arms around his neck and his hands upon her waist, swaying back and forth. It was romantic, but Eva couldn’t help but think about the possibility of him leaving her. She didn’t want to lose all of this.

“I love this song,” he admitted. “It’s fucking beautiful, Eva.”

“I wrote it about you,” she replied. He grinned at her confession.

Everyone was enjoying it, as they slow-danced with their dates. Hell, even Jonas and Noora were swaying to the beat together, and they both seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Then, they kissed, and Eva’s eyes widened. They hadn’t told her they were together. She supposed they would come clean eventually, so it didn’t matter. Jonas and Noora were happy together, and that was what was truly important.

She looked back at Chris, since she knew that he was supposed to be what she was focusing on. “When do you go on tour?” Eva inquired.

“We’re supposed to be having fun tonight,” Chris deflected. Why couldn’t he fucking give her a straightforward answer?

He spun her around, probably so he wouldn’t have to look at her pissed off face for a second.

“It’s a bit difficult to have a good time when I’m worried and you keep dodging my questions,” she pointed out.

Chris nodded. “Okay. I’ll be honest with you,” he replied. “I’m leaving in about a week.”

“A week?!” Eva exclaimed.

What. The. Fuck. He had waited until the very last minute to tell her, and she had to force it out of him. His original plan was probably just to up and leave and then call her afterwards. Once again, Christoffer Schistad was being a massive fucking douche.

“I was going to tell you eventually,” he protested.

“When?” she asked. “Before or after boarding the plane? Or maybe you’d just wait until you got to Copenhagen.”

“I wanted us to have fun before I left the country,” Chris explained. “You need to stop allowing Iben to mess with your all of your thoughts and start thinking independently for a change.”

“At least Iben had the guts to tell me the truth,” she spat. 

The DJ interrupted them to say that Chris was about go on stage for a live performance. How fucking wonderful.

“Don’t keep your fans waiting,” she said. “Go on stage.”

The teenagers at the dance cheered as he walked onto the stage and up to the microphone. He was performing the song he wrote for her, and she wished that he wasn’t.

Mahdi walked over and stood next to her. “This actually isn’t as boring as I thought it would be,” he told her. “We don’t do this shit at Bakka. Then again, everyone there thinks that they’re too good for it.”

“Mahdi, what’s the number one rule about going on tour?” Eva asked him.

He sighed. “Are you 100% certain that you want to know?” he wondered. “Sometimes it’s better to just not worry about stuff until it happens.”

Eva hesitated for a moment before nodding. She appreciated that he was trying to spare her feelings, but she couldn’t avoid this any longer. “Yeah, Mahdi. I want to know.”

The dark-skinned boy bit his lip before speaking. “The number one rule of the road is to dump your girlfriend before you leave,” he said quietly.

“That’s what I expected,” she replied with a nod. Tears were welling at the bottom of her eyes, but she wiped them away with her sleeve.

If Chris was going to leave her just because he was going on tour, then Iben was right. Then he was an asshole. A miniscule part of her still had hope that he was better than that, but she knew that she shouldn’t count on it.

* * *

The next morning, Eva went into the studio and let herself get lost in the music. When she was singing and strumming on her guitar, she could block the other things out. Or, at least she could attempt to.

“Eva,” Iben said through the mic on the other side of the studio. Her voice seemed a bit pissy. “You have a visitor,” she announced, pointing toward the doorway to the studio.

Eva turned her head. It was Chris, who was probably the  _ last _ person that she wanted to see right then and there. She would almost have preferred if Sara was the one visiting.

“Hey,” he greeted as he walking inside. Eva put her head in her hands. She didn’t want to deal with this right now.

“Hi,” she responded, refusing to look him in the eyes.

“I have my tour dates confirmed,” he informed her. “I’m leaving a little bit sooner than I thought. My flight takes off on Monday morning.”

She didn’t say a word, so he walked toward her and took the seat on her right. “Look, Eva,” he started, “I should have told you about the tour earlier and I’m really sorry. I fucked up.”

Eva nodded, but remained silent. Tears were streaming down her face. She didn’t believe him. Iben was right. Chris wasn’t an honest person, not even with his girlfriend.

He scooted the chair closer to her. “I’m new at this whole monogamous relationship thing, okay?” he reasoned. “Eva, I’m trying as hard as I can here.”

“Yeah,” she breathed out, unsure as to whether or not she could believe a word that he said. “I’m trying too, Chris. It’s not like I’m asking for your hand in marriage. I just want a functional relationship with a normal person.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Chris suggested. “I’m not normal. Neither of us are. We’re stars now, so things are a bit different.”

“Besides,” he added with a smirk. “Why would we be normal when we can be exceptional together?”

“Okay,” she replied. “But what about the first rule of the road, Chris? You’re just going to break up with me by Monday.”

He moved in so their faces were just inches away. “Rules were meant to be broken,” he whispered.

Chris leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. They were going to make this work. No matter the distance and no matter the stardom, they were going to find a way to prevail and stay together.


	8. Chapter 8

Eva’s latest single was amazing. As she sat in the studio with a cup of tea and listened to it with Mari and Iben, everyone was smiling. She had been successful and they all were proud.

She sung the song quietly to herself as she went to put her mug in the sink. Sure, she was part of the “talent” but she still had to clean up after herself.

When Eva opened the mini fridge to get a snack, she saw a single slice of Bløtkake. She pulled out with a grin on her face and turned to see Iben walking into the room. She had remembered.

“It’s past midnight,” Iben said, holding up her phone to show the time. “Congratulations, Eva. You’re eighteen now.”

Eva was eighteen years-old. That made her an adult. She had a year left of vgs and then she’d be done with school, allowing her to put her career before anything else.

“I didn’t know exactly what to get you,” the older girl continued. “After all, I feel like you have everything that you’ve ever wanted.”

_ Well not everything,  _ a part of Eva screamed. She chose to ignore it. She had a boyfriend, she didn’t need Iben.

“So, what else do you want?” Iben asked.

_ You,  _ Eva thought to herself. She dismissed it. Chris had been gone on tour for a while and she was just horny. She was too strong to give into that sort of temptation with Iben.

“Chris is visiting for the day tomorrow to celebrate at my party,” she started.

Iben interrupted her with a sigh. “Can’t wait,” she grumbled.

“This is the issue, right here. I hate it so much,” Eva replied. “It’s been years since your breakup. Can’t you two just get along?”

Iben looked away, not daring to meet Eva’s eyes. Why was she acting like such a coward?

“You are two of the most important people in my life,” she continued. “Please, just stop fighting for me.”

Iben raised her eyebrows. “ _ That’s  _ your birthday wish?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Eva groaned. “It’s literally the only thing that I want from you.”

“Alright,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ll try to get along with him. I promise.”

“Thank you,” she said. 

Iben grabbed a candle out of her pocket and stuck it in the top of the cake before pulling out her lighter and igniting the tip.

Eva’s mother had always told her that the way you spend your birthday sets the tone for the rest of the year. She was happy that she had started the day off with Iben.

She blew the candle out, but her wish wasn’t what she had told Iben. In fact, Iben  _ was _ her wish. She felt guilty about it, but it wouldn’t happen anyway. Eva turned to wrap the older girl in a big warm hug. She was happy to have Iben, both as a friend and as a mentor  _ and maybe as more. _

Pressing a kiss to Iben’s cheek, Eva pulled away with a smile on her face, excited for the day to come.

“Welcome to adulthood,” Iben told her.

So far, Eva’s birthday was off to a fantastic start. She was eating cake with her producer, she would have a party with her friends later, and her boyfriend was flying back for a visit. It was going to be amazing.

* * *

“Happy birthday!” Noora exclaimed as she and Jonas ran into her house for brunch. They had come together, not that Eva was very surprised by that anymore.

Noora gave her a hug while Jonas pulled out something from behind his back. It was a dirty glass jar with little pieces of paper inside. The time capsule that they buried the very day they met Noora.

“How did you find this?” asked Eva. The three of them had realized in the past few years that they buried it without leaving any markers or writing down where it was. The grass had since grown over it, so they thought it was lost forever.

Noora looked up toward him. “He’s been obsessing over it for weeks,” she replied rolling her eyes. “We practically dug up his entire lawn. His mom was so pissed.”

“We made a promise to open it up during the middle birthday, which was Eva’s,” Jonas protested. “Besides, they wouldn’t have even known about it if Thea didn’t snitch. The youngest sibling is  _ always  _ the snitch.”

Noora playfully shoved him. “She only told on you because you said she couldn’t have her friend over. Your parents would have taken one glance at the backyard and yelled at you anyway.”

“Still, it’s a matter of loyalty. I don’t forget,” Jonas argued.

“Or you just didn’t want to get me another gift,” Eva said with a laugh.

Jonas laughed with her. “Hey, this is a pretty nice present. I thought you’d appreciate it.”

She reached over and squeezed his wrist. “No worries. I do enjoy it.”

They all took their seats as Eva’s dad walked in and served them pancakes and sausage for breakfast. A cup of orange juice sat behind each of their plates.

After cracking the jar that contained their memories open, Eva dumped its contents onto the table. It was cute, seeing all the things they wanted to save when they were younger. There were pictures of them and shitty drawings, and weird pieces of paper with random things glued on. There was one thing in the time capsule that was more important than the rest. Each of them had made a list of things that they wanted to do before turning eighteen.

“Here’s my to do list!” Eva announced, plucking her list out of the pile of papers. “Have the best kiss ever, check,” she said with a wink. “Change lives with my music, check.”

“You were an idealist even at that age,” Jonas chuckled.

Eva rolled her eyes. “The coolest birthday party ever and my own line of beanies.”

“Nice,” Jonas said with a nod. “Let me do mine now.”

His was on a large piece of notebook paper, which now seemed to be yellowing. He unfolded the paper so that he could read from it. “Mad skateboarding skills, check. Still Eva’s best friend-” He looked over to her and winked. “Check. Number three, free Norway from it’s screwed up capitalist system.”

“You said that back then?!” Noora exclaimed.

He nodded. “It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s still time. I don’t turn eighteen until December.”

“You’re pretty close to saving us from the system,” Eva joked. Jonas hummed in agreement.

Noora unfolded her list and quickly folded it back up after reading it. “Mine just says ‘meet Justin Bieber.’”

“That’s the only thing you wanted?” Jonas asked.  “Let me see that!” 

He tried to take it from her, but Noora jerked her arm away. Eva had caught a glimpse of the paper, so she knew why Noora was freaking out. The other item on her list was ‘have a perfect boyfriend.’ She didn’t want him to read it because she didn’t want Eva to know about their relationship. It stung a little, but she knew that she had to give them time.

Her dad walked in with the house phone while Noora and Jonas were playfully bickering. His hand was over the transmitter so it wouldn’t pick up their voices. “It’s Chris,” he informed her. “I’ll just tell him to hang up-”

Eva sprung up from her chair and snatched the phone from her father. “Hi, Chris.”

“Eva, hey,” he replied. “I’m on my way to an autograph session, then I have a concert, then I can finally get on another fucking plane.”

“You know, it’s only about ten hours and twenty-three minutes until I can see you again,” she gushed. “In case you can’t tell, I miss you just a little bit.”

“I can barely hear you,” he replied, there seemed to be some issues with the signal. “I really want to talk.”

“I want to talk to you more than anything,” she admitted.

He didn’t respond. “Hello?” she asked. There was just static on the other end of the phone. There was a long tone that signalled that the call was over. Fantastic.

All because of the stupid lack of reception, Eva wasn’t going to be able to hear her boyfriend tell her happy birthday until later. Not that he seemed all too excited about it anyway.

* * *

The party was going to be at G-Major records, so Dr. Skrulle, Chris Berg, and the rest of the team had been working through the entire morning so that they could set up for it. There were plasma screens everywhere to broadcast the stage, which she would be singing on at some point in the night. When she wasn’t performing, the TVs would play footage of her new music video with Chris, which had not been released to the public yet.

“You guys are seriously amazing for doing this for me,” Eva said to Chris and Dr. Skrulle. “Thank you so much.”

The two women took turns hugging her. “It was really no problem,” Chris replied. “There’s just one thing I need you to do tonight.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“You and Chris need to introduce the video to the guests. Be spontaneous and cute,” she said. “I know that the last part shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“I can come up with something,” she assured them. 

“You might want to make sure Chris knows what to say beforehand,” Dr. Skrulle suggested.

Eva laughed. “Yeah, probably. Sometimes he says regretful shit.”

* * *

After she talked with them, Eva grabbed her guitar and ventured into a more private room so she could practice her music and work on a new song. She sang and strummed, assuming that she would be fetched when they needed her.

“Is this a private concert?” a familiar voice asked. Eva looked up to see Iben smiling down at her from the doorway,

She stopped playing. “Anyone is welcome,” she replied with a laugh.

“You don’t have to stop,” Iben told her. “It sounds amazing. I love it. Can you play the chorus for me?”

Eva nodded before adjusting her guitar on her lap and playing the song. It was pretty good so far, but she wasn’t quite sure about the lyrics.

“It’s not done, obviously,” she informed her. “I have to finish it so that I can sing it tonight. For Chris.”

“For Chris?” Iben asked raising her eyebrows. Oh great. She had promised that she wouldn’t act like this yet here they were.

Eva crossed her arms. “Yes, for Chris. My boyfriend.”

“It isn’t Chris’ birthday,” the older girl pointed out. “He should be happy that you-” Iben paused and took a deep breath. “Never mind.”

“Thank you,” Eva replied with a smile.

“Can you come with me for a minute?” Iben requested.

Eva looked at her curiously and shook her head. “I need to finish this song by tonight.”

Iben shrugged and stood up. “I mean, if you don’t want your birthday present, then I guess that’s fine.”

She sprung from her seat and took off after her producer. “I’m coming,” she said as she chased Iben down.

* * *

Iben kept her hand over Eva’s eyes as they walked to wherever they were going. She was excited to see what her present was, but Iben didn’t want to spoil it for her.

When Iben lifted her hands off of Eva’s eyes, the younger girl’s jaw dropped. Standing in front of her  was Iben’s shiny purple car. Surely she wouldn’t be giving her a  _ car _ for her birthday. Much less a car that expensive.

“Are you giving me your car?” she asked, looking to Iben in shock.

She snorted. “No fucking way. Don’t get too ahead of yourself. I’m going to teach you how to drive.”

“Don’t you have to be 25 for that?” Eva inquired.

Iben rolled her eyes. “We’re high rollers now, Eva. We can do what we want.”

She snatched the keys from Iben and hopped into the driver’s seat, putting the key into the ignition.

“Seatbelt first,” Iben warned.

Eva nodded and complied with her request before turning the key and starting the car.

“The parking brake,” the older girl reminded.

“I was going to do that next,” Eva protested before releasing the break.

Iben looked a little fearful now. Maybe she was starting to regret choosing this as Eva’s gift, especially seeing as the car was so fucking expensive.

Eva took off, alternating between the accelerator and the brake so that she wouldn’t go too fast. She must not have been very good at this, because it caused them to jerk back and forth in the car. It was okay. She would get the hang of it eventually.

“This is a manual transmission car!” Iben exclaimed. “You need to use the clutch and the gear shift.”

“I’m sorry,” Eva laughed. Sure, she was having trouble, but she was also having fun, chilling in the car with one of her favorite friends.

* * *

 

They drove for a few hours and she just got better and better. The song and Chris were pushed to the back of her mind as she enjoyed her time with Iben. While she was in that car with Iben, there was nowhere that she would rather be, which might be considered a bad thing, seeing as she already had a boyfriend.

Eva felt like Iben was her soulmate, but she had always been a strong believer in the concept of platonic soulmates. Maybe that was what this was. Maybe that was the reason that she made her heart beat a bit faster.

She stopped the car and Iben gripped on the windowsill. Well, maybe Eva wasn’t improving quite as much as she thought that she was.

“Don’t be so freaked out,” Eva laughed. “I didn’t  _ actually  _ hit that dog. It was close, but I saved it.”

Iben threw her hands up into the air. “Eva!” she shouted, but she didn’t seem to be too angry or frustrated. “The dog was on the  _ sidewalk _ .”

Eva nodded. “I admit, there’s plenty of room for improvement.”

She looked at the older girl and smiled, hoping that she wasn’t too obvious. She must have failed because Iben furrowed her eyebrows and asked, “What?”

“I missed hanging out with you,” Eva admitted. “It was nice when we had more time to just the two of us.”

Iben looked up into her eyes and smiled. “I miss it too,” she quietly confessed.

“You can be an ass sometimes,” Eva told her as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to the older girl’s cheek, mere inches from her lips. “I wouldn’t change a single thing about you, though.”

They stared at one another for a few moments, faces less than a foot apart. Part of Eva wanted to make a move, but she knew that she couldn’t cheat. Cheating was one of the worst things that someone could do to their significant other and Eva didn’t want to be one of those people.

If Iben leaned in, however, it wouldn’t be Eva’s fault. She wouldn’t mind so much if that that happened.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. Eva leaned back into her seat and rushed to answer it. Maybe it was her boyfriend.

“Hi, Chris!” she greeted overenthusiastically, as if she were guilty of something, which she wasn’t.

“Hey Eva!” chirped the wrong Chris. Eva wasn’t sure as to whether or not she was relieved that he wasn’t the one on the other line. “We have a bit of an emergency on our hands.”

“What kind of emergency?” Eva inquired.

“A fashion emergency,” Chris replied. “Just get here as soon as you can, okay?”

“Okay,” Eva said before hanging up.

What the hell did she mean by a fashion emergency? Was she calling her clothes ugly? That didn’t seem like something that Chris would say. Well, there was only one way to find out. Eva was going to have to go inside and figure this “emergency” out.

* * *

When Dr. Skrulle’s assistants opened the door, Eva’s eyes widened. There was a vanity in front of her, piled with clothes and shoes and jewelry. Everything Eva would need to look absolutely stunning at her eighteenth birthday party.

She looked up toward Dr. Skrulle. “All of this. It’s for me?”

“We’ve also hired people to do your hair and makeup today,” Chris added. “We want you to feel as beautiful as you truly are.”

“You can choose whatever you want,” Dr. Skrulle informed her. “So what will it be?”

“This is going to be the best birthday ever,” she said, eyes wide. She ignored Jonas’ voice at the back of her head telling her that it was all capitalist nonsense. She didn’t need all of this, so why should she wear it.

She tried on outfit after outfit. Eva felt like a model or maybe a moviestar. All these clothes made her feel important. She felt like she was being spoiled, but sometimes that turned out to be a good thing.

Even Chris and Dr. Skrulle were getting into it, abandoning their work demeanors to try on accessories and dance around with her.

In the end, Eva decided to wear a short, tight red dress that had a turtleneck collar and strappy black heels. It showed off her legs, which were looking particularly good that day. She wore her hair in a messy bun and didn’t go too heavy with the makeup, as she preferred a more natural look.

More than anything, she wanted to show Iben how she looked. She ran out into the main room of the studio and found Iben, but she was speaking with Mari. Eva was about to interrupt them when she realized that they were talking about her, so she hid instead.

She knew that it wasn’t very ethical to be listening in on their conversation, but she couldn’t help it. She was curious.

“I hate this so much,” Iben said to Mari. “I’ve met the most amazing girl in the world and she actually gets me, but she’s nearly four years younger than me. On top of that, she has a boyfriend now.”

Mari shook her head. “She is eighteen now, though,” the blond girl pointed out.

“I’m not that kind of girl,” Iben replied crossing her arms. “Eva is out of bounds for me.”

“And if she was 21 like us?” Mari asked.

Iben smirked. “Then I would make her forget about Chris so fucking fast.”

Eva’s jaw dropped from where she stood in the hall. Iben liked her. She actually liked her, but the main issues were her age and her boyfriend. Maybe, just maybe, she could change the older girl’s mind.

She took a deep breath in. She needed to shake this from her mind. Chris was her boyfriend and she had to be loyal to him. Cheating shouldn’t even be in her thoughts.

Eva had to tell Noora.

* * *

“I’m not a total loser!” Eva exclaimed, which made Noora laugh. Eva was wearing a robe and a towel in her hair, so she did kind of look ridiculous, which may have counteracted her statement. “Iben  _ likes _ me. This is fucking amazing!”

“Okay,” Noora started, following after her as she walked around her house. “I’m not sure exactly what it means, though. Like, you’re still too young even though you’re 18 now.”

Eva shrugged before grabbing the milk out of the fridge. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “Maybe I’ve been spending too much time with her ever since Chris left to go on tour.”

“I mean it’s not like you did anything,” the blond girl pointed out.

She reached up to grab cups out of the cabinet. “Does this make me an emotional cheater?” she wondered aloud.

Noora snorted. “Okay, calm yourself,” she replied. “You still like Chris, right?”

“Of course I do,” Eva said.  _ But maybe not as much as Iben. _

Noora raised her eyebrows.

“I’m totally past Iben now,” Eva lied. “I’ve finally received closure. She wishes that she could have me. But there’s no way that I’m going to tell her that I know about it. That would get awkward real fast.”

The blond girl took a deep breath, as if she was nervous or something. “There is something else I wanted to talk with you about,” she told her.

Whatever it was, it could wait. Today was Eva’s birthday and she had plenty of important things to worry about.

“In less than two hours, Chris is going to be back for the day,” Eva said. “I need to find a way to make this up to him. I’m a loyal girlfriend. I can’t let my thoughts wander like this.”

“But you didn’t even do anything,” Noora insisted. “It’s all in your head. You haven’t actually cheated on him.”

“I hate secrets,” Eva informed her. “He’s my boyfriend and I need to be honest with him about what happened, even if it is nothing.”

Eva moves around the counter and hugged her friend tightly. “Thank you so much, Noora,” she said. “I’m so happy to have a friend like you.”

She ran upstairs so that she could get dressed, since they were going to have to leave for the party in a matter of minutes.

* * *

Eva took a deep breath before stepping onto the stage. Chris wasn’t here yet, so she would save his song for later in the night. Right now, she was going to be strutting across the stage to the sound of her original song. The one that she had performed for Instant Star.

Mari announced her act and wished her a happy birthday. She made a silent promise to talk to her more this year. She seemed like she could be a very good friend.

She walked across as her friends, family, and a bunch of strangers cheered. She knew that she looked fantastic, and now they knew it too.

Eva caught Iben looking at her. For some reason, having her eyes staring her down made it feel a hundred times better to be up there in front of everyone. Mari whispered something to her and she tensed up a little, without taking her eyes off of Eva.

She saw Jonas in the crowd and waved at him. He grinned and waved back. His arm was around Noora. Maybe that was what the blond girl was trying to tell her earlier. It didn’t matter, though. She had already known.

Iben moved close to the stage and motioned her over. She leaned in and whispered into her ear, “You look absolutely stunning.”

The words sent an unwelcome shiver down Eva’s spine. She had begun to think that she was happy with Chris, but the mere thought of being with Iben was exhilarating. Mere days ago, it had seemed like a far-off dream. Now, it had the potential to become reality one day.

“Thanks,” Eva replied, gazing at the older girl’s lips. She needed to shake this and focus on what was more important, so she asked, “Have you seen Chris yet?”

Iben’s face fell a little and she shook her head. “No,” she replied. “I haven’t seen him.”

The older girl walked away and Eva took a few steps back, taking in the massive crowd once again. She had never imagined that so many people would want to help her celebrate her birthday.

Her parents stood together happily for once. It was her birthday and they were able to push all their fights aside for at least one day so that Eva could have a nice time.

She motioned toward Jonas and he released Noora and joined her on the stage. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a friendly manner. She was happy his crush on her had ended and she was even more happy that he and Noora had found each other. Honestly, that was probably the best thing to come of her fame.

“You’re still waiting on Mr C to the H to the R-I-S?” he whispered with a smile. Jonas wasn’t really Chris’ biggest fan either, but he was less vocal about it than Iben was.

“He’s going to be here any minute,” she assured him. “I’m so excited to see him again!”

Maybe if she saw him again, then she could forget about all of this Iben business. Chris was her boyfriend, and she needed to be loyal.

“I guess you satisfied another item on your list,” he remarked. “Despite all of the over-the-top capitalist nonsense here, this party is pretty fucking lit.”

“It really is, isn’t it,” she replied.

Noora made her way toward the stage and smiled up at them.

“I’m guessing that you’ve heard about Noora and-” Jonas started before Noora jumped onto the stage.

“We were saying we should all grab some kebab after this,” Noora interrupted. Eva was slightly hurt that they felt the need to be so secretive, but they’d tell her when they were ready.

Dr. Skrulle and Chris Berg wheeled out a giant cake, which looked fake and seemed a bit excessive. Soon, a present rose out of the middle. It was a guitar.

Eva would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the whole ordeal if she wasn’t in shock. They had gotten her a fucking Gibson, which was a guitar made by one of the nicest guitar makers out there.

There was a buzzing sound coming from Jonas’ pocket. He pulled out Eva’s phone and handed it to her. If only her dress had pockets, then he wouldn’t have had to keep it for her.

When she saw who was calling, she snatched it out of Jonas’ hands and quickly answered. “Chris, hi! Are you here?”

“Eva, look to your left,” Chris ordered. 

She turned and saw him, a grin beginning to spread across her face. He had come all this way to see her on her birthday despite being busy. Sure, he had promised that he would, but Chris wasn’t exactly the most reliable person.

“Can we talk in private?” he requested.

“Of course,” she replied. He probably was going to give her her present or maybe a birthday kiss. Hopefully both.

He walked out into the hallway and she rushed off the stage to follow him. When they got into Dr. Skrulle’s office, she ran up to him and wrapped him in a big hug.

“I missed you so fucking much,” she said before kissing his lips. Maybe that was a bit of a stretch. She had been perfectly fine without him, but she didn’t want him to know that.

He pulled back and closed the door. “I’ve been doing good,” he informed her, “but I’ve been trying to say something to you all fucking day. The phone kept cutting out, so I had to wait until I got here.”

“What is it?” Eva asked in a shaky voice. She was worried. Had something happened to him on tour? “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s just the fans caught a pic and you’re going to see it sooner or later and-” Chris started, pacing around the room and shaking his head. He was definitely more nervous  than Eva about this.

She walked up to him and lightly brushed his cheek with her thumb to calm him down. “Hey, you know you can talk to me, right? I’m your girlfriend. I’m here for you, Chris.”

He looked down, unable to meet her eyes. Eva’s face fell. Chris had done something bad to her, and he didn’t want to say it.

“Tell me,” she insisted.

“I met someone on tour,” he confessed, looking up to meet her eyes. He seemed somewhat regretful, but it was probably an act. Chris was a surprisingly good actor for someone in the music industry. Maybe he should’ve pursued a career in musical theater.

“Who?” Eva asked, the feeling of betrayal coursing through her blood.

There was a knock on the door and Eva told the person to wait, but they didn’t listen, opening the door wide open and peeking their head in. It was Sara.

“What the fuck are you doing here at  _ my _ birthday party?” Eva asked her. God, Sara was the last person that she wanted to see.

“I asked you to wait outside,” Chris gritted out.

Eva’s jaw dropped and she turned to her (now) ex-boyfriend. There were millions of boys and girls in the world that were willing to be with him, and he chose her worst enemy.

She put her hands on her hips and confirmed everything that Eva had been thinking. “No offense, Chris, but I’m not going to let you talk to your ex alone. You aren’t exactly the most trustworthy person.”

Tears began to drip down Eva’s face. It was odd. She wasn’t sad about breaking up with Chris. She couldn’t really care less about him. She was sad because, in the end, he cheated. He was a douche, but Eva still wasn’t good enough for him.

She wiped her eyes and rushed out of the room. Another second in that room with the two of them would be absolutely unbearable.

Chris ran after her even though he should have known it was a lost cause. He gripped her arm tightly, but she pushed away as hard as she could, causing her to crash back into a waiter that was standing behind her.

Suddenly, her music started playing loudly as she sprinted into a room on the other side of the studio. She couldn’t be by the party anymore. She needed air. She needed to breathe.

When she walked inside, she wasn’t alone. Jonas and Noora were in there and they had obviously been making out. She didn’t have time to talk to them about that. It could happen later.

“I am so sorry,” Chris said. Wonderful. He had followed her despite her obvious attempts to get away from him. “I didn’t want it to happen like this.”

She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What happened?” Jonas asked.

“Was I talking to you, skate rat?” Chris asked turning toward him. He had no right to be mad at Eva or her friends. He was the one at fault.

“Sara was a part of my tour,” he explained. “We spent a lot of time together, so it just kind of happened. I didn’t want you to find out.”

“And here I was thinking that I was helping you to become a better person,” Eva replied, rolling her eyes.

“You did,” Chris said. “You helped me reclaim my music. But I can’t be held down. I need to explore, date and hook up with more people. Why love one person when you can sleep with so many more.”

Eva shook her head before turning and walking away, outside this time. It was pouring rain, but she didn’t care. At least he wouldn’t be following her anymore.

* * *

 

She stood outside and cried for what felt like hours, but really was probably only a couple of minutes. Time passed slowly when your life was a fucking tragedy.

The sound of the door to the roof opening interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see Iben walking toward her. Part of Eva felt relieved. It was like Iben made her feel safe and at home.

“I should have listened to you,” Eva admitted. “You knew Chris better than anyone and I totally discounted your opinion.”

The older girl walked over to her and leaned on the railing right next to where she was standing. “Chris is an idiot. If he gave up on you for someone else, then natural selection is coming for him. He should have chosen you. He was an idiot not to.”

“That isn’t worth much coming from you,” she snapped. Iben had rejected her. How was this any different? At least Chris had given her a chance.

Iben stood up straight. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Eva shook her head. “I need to stop falling for the people who don’t really give a shit about me. It fucking sucks.”

“Eva I-” Iben started.

“You’re all so fucking nice and amazing,” she continued. “But none of you actually want to be with me.”

She stood up straighter and got in Iben’s face. “Tell me how I can improve,” she insisted. “Tell me what the hell is wrong with me. Tell me how I can fix it.”

Iben shook her head. “You’re asking the wrong person,” she replied before turning toward Eva and leaning in, pressing their wet lips together.

The crackling of thunder in the sky didn’t phase them as they clung on to one another. It was Eva and Iben and the electricity flowing through them as they kissed was much stronger than that of the lightning in the sky. Eva had been waiting eons for this and the feeling of Iben’s soft lips upon hers was better than she could ever have imagined. They fit, and both of them had spent too long trying to deny it.

They pulled away and leaned their foreheads together as Eva gazed into Iben’s gorgeous eyes.

The sound of the door opening tore them apart. It was some old guy and a girl who was far too young for him. She supposed they wouldn’t say anything, after all, they probably weren’t supposed to be together anyway.

“It’s time for you to perform,” Iben informed her. “And afterwards, it’s going to be you and me, okay?”

Eva grinned and nodded before going inside. Iben was finally going to let this happen. They were finally going to be together.

* * *

 

This time, Eva didn’t feel like she was going to throw up when she walked onto the stage. She had her best friends, who were in love with one another. She had her parents who, despite bickering, thought the world of her and her sister. She had Ingrid who would always protect her. And now she had Iben, the only person who had ever made her believe in soulmates.

She sung the song she had written before, but changed the lyrics up a little. Eva had realized that the song never really was for Chris. It was for Iben. Everything was for Iben.

It was Eva’s best song yet. She knew it. Her friends and family knew it. The audience knew it. Most importantly, Iben knew it.

The best things that an artist can create come from their heart, and Eva’s  entire heart was in this song. Iben owned her heart now. Or maybe she had owned it for a long time. Regardless, Eva’s heart belonged to Iben, and this song was all for her.

_ Time to be your only one _

_ To almost be you're way too young _

_ Time to crash into the sun _

_ Time to be your 21. _


End file.
